The researchers, who are affiliated with France's University of Montpelier and Japan's Nagoya Institute of Technology and Okinawa University, explained that 'the importance of exposure for recognising faces is supported by a large number of studies showing an 'other-race effect'.

It is defined as a greater capacity to recognise faces of one's own cultural group as compared to faces from other cultural groups.

Lead investigator Alexandra Alvergne said: 'Our results suggest that exposure has a limited role in the ability to process facial resemblance in others, which contrasts with the way our brains process facial recognition.'

The study was published in the Journal of Vision.