Face Aftereffects Indicate Dissociable, but Not Distinct, Coding of Male and Female Faces

It has been claimed that exposure to distorted faces of one sex induces perceptual aftereffects for test faces that are of the same sex, but not for test faces of the other sex ( A. C. Little, L. M. DeBruine, & B. C. Jones, 2005 ). This result suggests that male and female faces have separate ne...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance 2008-02, Vol.34 (1), p.101-112
Main Authors: Jaquet, Emma, Rhodes, Gillian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation
Adolescent
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Coding
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive Processes
Distortion
Experimental psychology
Face
Face Perception
Female
Females
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gender
Human
Humans
Male
Males
Men
Neurology
Perception
Perceptual Aftereffect
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Same sex
Sensory Adaptation
Sensory perception
Sex Factors
Space Perception
Vision
Visual Discrimination
Visual Perception
Visual similarity
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Summary:It has been claimed that exposure to distorted faces of one sex induces perceptual aftereffects for test faces that are of the same sex, but not for test faces of the other sex ( A. C. Little, L. M. DeBruine, & B. C. Jones, 2005 ). This result suggests that male and female faces have separate neural coding. Given the high degree of visual similarity between faces of different sexes, this result is surprising. The authors reinvestigated male and female face coding using a different face distortion. In Experiment 1, participants adapted to distorted faces from one sex (e.g., male contracted faces) and were tested with faces of both sexes. Aftereffects were found for both male and female faces, suggesting the existence of common coding mechanisms. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants adapted to oppositely distorted faces from both sexes (male contracted and female expanded faces). Weak opposite aftereffects were found for male and female faces, suggesting the existence of sex-selective face coding mechanisms. Taken together, these results indicate that both common and sex-selective mechanisms code male and female faces.
ISSN:0096-1523
1939-1277
DOI:10.1037/0096-1523.34.1.101