Final answer:
The difficulty experienced by a Black individual in recognizing White customers during a robbery can be explained by interference in perception, affected by implicit racial bias and the cross-race effect, where individuals are better at recognizing faces of their own racial group.
Step-by-step explanation:
The difficulty in recognizing White customers who were in a store during a robbery by a Black individual can be an example of interference in perception. This phenomenon is influenced by a multitude of factors, including implicit racial bias, prejudice, and cultural experiences that shape our perceptions.
Extensive research has indicated that our abilities to recognize or recall characteristics of individuals from different racial groups are often less accurate, which is known as the "cross-race effect," where people are better at recognizing faces of their own race than those of other races. Additionally, the racial framing in media and society could subconsciously lead individuals to associate certain racial groups with particular behaviors, including criminality, further exacerbating challenges in accurate perception.