Gender Is a Dimension of Face Recognition

In an experiment, the authors investigated the impact of gender categorization on face recognition. Participants were familiarized with composite androgynous faces labeled with either a woman's first name ( Mary ) or a man's first name ( John ). The results indicated that participants more...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition memory, and cognition, 2002-03, Vol.28 (2), p.362-365
Main Authors: Baudouin, Jean Yves, Tiberghien, Guy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Classification (Cognitive Process)
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive science
Face
Face Perception
Facial Expression
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gender
Human
Human Sex Differences
Humans
Linguistics
Male
Neuroscience
Perception
Perceptual Discrimination
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Sex Factors
Vision
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Summary:In an experiment, the authors investigated the impact of gender categorization on face recognition. Participants were familiarized with composite androgynous faces labeled with either a woman's first name ( Mary ) or a man's first name ( John ). The results indicated that participants more quickly eliminated faces of the opposite gender than faces of the same gender than the face they were looking for. This gender effect did not result from greater similarity between faces of the same gender. Rather, early gender categorization of a face during face recognition appears to speed up the comparison process between the perceptual input and the facial representation. Implications for face recognition models are discussed.
ISSN:0278-7393
1939-1285
DOI:10.1037/0278-7393.28.2.362