Face age and sex modulate the other-race effect in face recognition

Faces convey a variety of socially relevant cues that have been shown to affect recognition, such as age, sex, and race, but few studies have examined the interactive effect of these cues. White participants of two distinct age groups were presented with faces that differed in race, age, and sex in a face recognition paradigm. Replicating the other-race effect, young participants recognized young own-race faces better than young other-race faces. However, recognition performance did not differ across old faces of different races (Experiments 1, 2A). In addition, participants showed an other-age effect, recognizing White young faces better than White old faces. Sex affected recognition performance only when age was not varied (Experiment 2B). Overall, older participants showed a similar recognition pattern (Experiment 3) as young participants, displaying an other-race effect for young, but not old, faces. However, they recognized young and old White faces on a similar level. These findings indicate that face cues interact to affect recognition performance such that age and sex information reliably modulate the effect of race cues. These results extend accounts of face recognition that explain recognition biases (such as the other-race effect) as a function of dichotomous ingroup/outgroup categorization, in that outgroup characteristics are not simply additive but interactively determine recognition performance.     

Emotional facial expressions differentially influence predictions and performance for face recognition

The relative contribution of child and parent trait anxiety on paternal and maternal controlling behaviour was examined. Thirty-seven children, aged 8–11 years, completed two difficult Tangram puzzles, one with their father and one with their mother. Videotapes of the parent–child interactions were rated on parental control and child dependent and withdrawn behaviour. Results indicated that, opposite to expectations, higher mother and father trait anxiety was associated with lower levels of parental control, and that the relation between parent trait anxiety and parental control was curvilinear. Furthermore, a significant stronger effect between child trait anxiety and parental control was found for boys than for girls. Moreover, more child withdrawal during the parent–child interaction was related to more parental control. The findings offer new insights, which may guide future theories on child and parent anxiety and parental control. Specifically, the role of parent and child gender need further conceptualisation and research.     

Reversibility of the other-race effect in face recognition during childhood

Early experience with faces of a given racial type facilitates visual recognition for this type of face relative to others. To assess whether this so-called other-race effect can be reversed by subsequent experience with new types of faces, we tested adults of Korean origin who were adopted by European Caucasian families when they were between the ages of 3 to 9. The adoptees performed a face recognition task with photographs of Caucasian and Asian faces. They performed exactly like a control group of French participants, identifying the Caucasian faces better than the Asiatic ones. In contrast, a control group of Koreans showed the reverse pattern. This result indicates that the face recognition system remains plastic enough during childhood to reverse the other-race effect.     

Class, race, and the face: social context modulates the cross-race effect in face recognition

The current research investigates the hypothesis that the well-established cross-race effect (CRE; better recognition for same-race than for cross-race faces) is due to social-cognitive mechanisms rather than to differential perceptual expertise with same-race and cross-race faces. Across three experiments, the social context in which faces are presented has a direct influence on the CRE. In the first two experiments, middle-class White perceivers show superior recognition for same-race White faces presented in wealthy but not in impoverished contexts. The second experiment indicates this effect is due to the tendency to categorize White faces in impoverished contexts as outgroup members (e.g., "poor Whites"). In the third experiment, this effect is replicated using different ingroup and outgroup categorizations (university affiliation), with ingroup White faces being recognized better than outgroup White faces. In line with a social-cognitive model of the CRE, context had no influence on recognition for cross-race Black faces across the three experiments.     

Body expressions influence recognition of emotions in the face and voice

The most familiar emotional signals consist of faces, voices, and whole-body expressions, but so far research on emotions expressed by the whole body is sparse. The authors investigated recognition of whole-body expressions of emotion in three experiments. In the first experiment, participants performed a body expression-matching task. Results indicate good recognition of all emotions, with fear being the hardest to recognize. In the second experiment, two alternative forced choice categorizations of the facial expression of a compound face-body stimulus were strongly influenced by the bodily expression. This effect was a function of the ambiguity of the facial expression. In the third experiment, recognition of emotional tone of voice was similarly influenced by task irrelevant emotional body expressions. Taken together, the findings illustrate the importance of emotional whole-body expressions in communication either when viewed on their own or, as is often the case in realistic circumstances, in combination with facial expressions and emotional voices.     

Early maturity of face recognition: No childhood development of holistic processing, novel face encoding, or face-space

Historically, it was believed the perceptual mechanisms involved in individuating faces developed only very slowly over the course of childhood, and that adult levels of expertise were not reached until well into adolescence. Over the last 10 years, there has been some erosion of this view by demonstrations that all adult-like behavioural properties are qualitatively present in young children and infants. Determining the age of maturity, however, requires quantitative comparison across age groups, a task made difficult by the need to disentangle development in face perception from development in all the other cognitive factors that affect task performance. Here, we argue that full quantitative maturity is reached early, by 5-7 years at the latest and possibly earlier. This is based on a comprehensive literature review of results in the 5-years-to-adult age range, with particular focus on the results of the few previous studies that are methodologically suitable for quantitative comparison of face effects across age, plus three new experiments testing development of holistic/configural processing (faces versus objects, disproportionate inversion effect), ability to encode novel faces (assessed via implicit memory) and face-space (own-age bias).     

Emotional face recognition in autism and in cerebral visual impairments: In search for specificity

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by difficulties in the social domain, but also by hyper- and hypo-reactivity. Atypical visual behaviours and processing have often been observed. Nevertheless, several similar signs are also identified in other clinical conditions including cerebral visual impairments (CVI). In the present study, we investigated emotional face categorization in groups of children with ASD and CVI by comparing each group to typically developing individuals (TD) in two tasks. Stimuli were either non-filtered or filtered by low- and high-spatial frequencies (LSF and HSF). All participants completed the autism spectrum quotient score (AQ) and a complete neurovisual evaluation. The results show that while both clinical groups presented difficulties in the emotional face recognition tasks and atypical processing of filtered stimuli, they did not differ from one another. Additionally, autistic traits were observed in the CVI group and symmetrically, some visual disturbances were present in the ASD group as measured via the AQ score and a neurovisual evaluation, respectively. The present study suggests the relevance of comparing ASD to CVI by showing that emotional face categorization difficulties should not be solely considered as autism-specific but merit investigation for potential dysfunction of the visual processing neural network. These results are of interest in both clinical and research perspectives, indicating that systematic visual examination is warranted for individuals with ASD.     

The prototype effect in face recognition: Extension and limits

The prototype effect in face recognition refers to a tendency to recognize the face corresponding to the central value of a series of seen faces, even when this central value or prototype has not been seen. Five experiments investigated the extension and limits of this phenomenon. In all the experiments, participants saw a series of faces, each one in two or more different versions or exemplars, and then performed a recognition test, including seen and unseen exemplars and the unseen prototype face. In Experiment 1, a strong prototype effect for variations in feature location was demonstrated in oldness ratings and in a standard old/new recognition test. Experiments 2A and 2B compared the prototype effect for variations in feature location and variations in head angle and showed that, for the latter, the prototype effect was weaker and more dependent on similarity than for the former. These results suggest that recognition across feature variations is based on an averaging mechanism, whereas recognition across viewpoint variations is based on an approximation mechanism. Experiments 3A and 3B examined the limits of the prototype effect using a face morphing technique that allows a systematic manipulation of face similarity. The results indicated that, as the similarity between face exemplars decreases to the level of similarity between the faces of different individuals, the prototype effect starts to disappear. At the same time, the prototype effect may originate false memories of faces that were never seen.     

Haptic recognition of static and dynamic expressions of emotion in the live face

If humans can detect the wealth of tactile and haptic information potentially available in live facial expressions of emotion (FEEs), they should be capable of haptically recognizing the six universal expressions of emotion (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise) at levels well above chance. We tested this hypothesis in the experiments reported here. With minimal training, subjects' overall mean accuracy was 51% for static FEEs (Experiment 1) and 74% for dynamic FEEs (Experiment 2). All FEEs except static fear were successfully recognized above the chance level of 16.7%. Complementing these findings, overall confidence and information transmission were higher for dynamic than for corresponding static faces. Our performance measures (accuracy and confidence ratings, plus response latency in Experiment 2 only) confirmed that happiness, sadness, and surprise were all highly recognizable, and anger, disgust, and fear less so.     

Developmental changes in face recognition during childhood: Evidence from upright and inverted faces

Adults are experts at recognizing faces but there is controversy about how this ability develops with age. We assessed 6- to 12-year-olds and adults using a digitized version of the Benton Face Recognition Test, a sensitive tool for assessing face perception abilities. Children's response times for correct responses did not decrease between ages 6 and 12, for either upright or inverted faces, but were significantly longer than those of adults for both face types. Accuracy improved between ages 6 and 12, significantly more for upright than inverted faces. Inverted face recognition improved slowly until late childhood, whereas there was a large improvement in upright face recognition between ages 6 and 8, with a further enhancement after age 12. These results provide further evidence that during childhood face processing undergoes protracted development and becomes increasingly tuned to upright faces.     

A developmental study of the own-age face recognition bias in children

The own-age bias is one in which people recognize faces of people their own age more accurately than faces of other ages (e.g., Anastasi & Rhodes, 2005, 2006) and appears to be, at least, partially based on experience (Harrison & Hole, 2009). Indeed, Hills and Lewis (2011a) have shown that 8-year-old faces are more accurately recognized by 8-year-old children than by 6- or 11-year-old children, suggesting the own-age bias develops rapidly. The present study explores the own-age bias in a developmental study in participants aged 6-10 years. Ninety participants (divided into 3 groups of 30 on the basis of their age at the first time of testing) undertook a standard old/new recognition paradigm in which their recognition accuracy was measured for 8- and 20-year-old faces. Results showed that when the participants were 8 years old, they recognized 8-year-old faces more accurately than when they were 7 or 9 years old. This effect was found to be based on mechanisms that differ from simple developmental improvement. This is the first study to show the development of the own-age bias in face recognition using a longitudinal design. These results show that the face recognition system is updated on the basis of recent experience and/or motivation to process faces, creating recognition biases.     

Famous face recognition,face matching,and extraversion

It has been previously established that extraverts who are skilled at interpersonal interaction perform significantly better than introverts on a face-specific recognition memory task. In our experiment we further investigate the relationship between extraversion and face recognition, focusing on famous face recognition and face matching. Results indicate that more extraverted individuals perform significantly better on an upright famous face recognition task and show significantly larger face inversion effects. However, our results did not find an effect of extraversion on face matching or inverted famous face recognition.     

Eye remember you two: gaze direction modulates face recognition in a developmental study

The effects of gaze direction on memory for faces were studied in children from three different age groups (6-7, 8-9, and 10-11 years old) using a computerized version of a task devised by Hood, Macrae, Cole-Davies and Dias (2003). Participants were presented with a sequence of faces in an encoding phase, and were then required to judge which faces they had previously encountered in a surprise two-alternative forced-choice recognition test. In one condition, stimulus eye gaze was either direct or deviated at the viewing phase, and eyes were closed at the test phase. In another condition, stimulus eyes were closed at the viewing phase, with either direct or deviated gaze at the test phase. Modulation of gaze direction affected hit rates, with participants demonstrating greater accuracy for direct gaze targets compared to deviated gaze targets in both conditions. Reaction times (RT) to correctly recognized stimuli were faster for direct gaze stimuli at the viewing phase, but not at the test phase. The age group of participants differentially affected these measures: there was a greater hit rate advantage for direct gaze stimuli in older children, although RTs were less affected by age. These findings suggest that while the facilitation of face recognition by gaze direction is robust across encoding and recognition stages, the efficiency of the process is affected by the stage at which gaze is modulated.     

Visual disengagement in young infants in relation to age,sex, SES,developmental level and adaptive functioning

Visual attention plays a key role in infants’ interaction with the environment, and shapes their behavioral and brain development. As such, early problems with flexibly switching gaze from one stimulus to another (visual disengagement) have been hypothesized to lead to developmental difficulties (e.g. joint attention and social skills) over time. This study aimed to identify cross-sectional associations between performance in the Gap task (gaze shift latencies and visual attention disengagement) and measures of development and adaptive behavior in conjunction to any sex or socioeconomic status effects in infancy. We measured visual attention disengagement in 436 5-month-old infants and calculated its association with cognitive developmental level, adaptive behaviours, socioeconomic status (SES) and biological sex. In the Gap task, participants must redirect their gaze from a central stimulus to an appearing peripheral stimulus. The three experimental conditions of the task (Gap, Baseline and Overlap) differ on the timepoint when the central stimuli disappears in relation to the appearance of the peripheral stimulus: 200 ms before the peripheral stimulus appears (Gap), simultaneously to its appearance (Baseline), or with peripheral stimulus offset (Overlap). The data from the experimental conditions showed the expected pattern, with average latencies being the shortest in the Gap and longest in the Overlap condition. Females were faster (p = .004) than males in the Gap condition, which could indicate that arousal-related effects differ as a function of biological sex. Infants from higher SES were slower (p = .031) in the Overlap condition compared to lower SES infants. This suggests that basic visual attention may differ by socio-cultural background, and should be considered when studying visual attention and its developmental correlates. We observed no significant association to concurrent developmental level or adaptive function. Given its large sample size, this study provides a useful reference for future studies of visual disengagement in early infancy.     

Processing style and person recognition: Exploring the face inversion effect

It has frequently been reported that recognition performance is impaired when faces are presented in an inverted rather than upright orientation, a phenomenon termed the face inversion effect (FIE). Extending previous work on this topic, the current investigation explored whether individual differences in global precedence—the propensity to process nonfacial stimuli in a configural manner—impacts memory for faces. Based on performance on the Navon letter-classification task, two experimental groups were created that differed in relative global precedence (i.e., strong global precedence [SGP] and weak global precedence [WGP]). In a subsequent face-recognition task, results revealed that while both groups demonstrated a reliable FIE, this effect was attenuated among participants displaying WGP. These findings suggest that individual differences in general processing style modulate face recognition.     

The effects of facial expressions and tears on the speed of sex recognition

The goal of this research was to examine the effects of facial expressions on the speed of sex recognition. Prior research revealed that sex recognition of female angry faces was slower compared with male angry faces and that female happy faces are recognized faster than male happy faces. We aimed to replicate and extend the previous research by using different set of facial stimuli, different methodological approach and also by examining the effects of some other previously unexplored expressions (such as crying) on the speed of sex recognition. In the first experiment, we presented facial stimuli of men and women displaying anger, fear, happiness, sadness, crying and three control conditions expressing no emotion. Results showed that sex recognition of angry females was significantly slower compared with sex recognition in any other condition, while sad, crying, happy, frightened and neutral expressions did not impact the speed of sex recognition. In the second experiment, we presented angry, neutral and crying expressions in blocks and again only sex recognition of female angry expressions was slower compared with all other expressions. The results are discussed in a context of perceptive features of male and female facial configuration, evolutionary theory and social learning context.     

The recognition of facial expressions: An investigation of the influence of age and cognition

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to investigate changes in facial expression recognition across the lifespan, as well as to determine the influence of fluid intelligence, processing speed, and memory on this ability. Peak performance in the ability to identify facial affect was found to occur in middle-age, with the children and older adults performing the poorest. Specifically, older adults were impaired in their ability to identify fear, sadness, and happiness, but had preserved recognition of anger, disgust, and surprise. Analyses investigating the influence of cognition on emotion recognition demonstrated that cognitive abilities contribute to performance, especially for participants over age 45. However, the cognitive functions did not fully account for the older adults' impairments on expression recognition. Overall, the age-related deficits in facial expression recognition have implications for older adults' use of non-verbal communicative information.     

Coping strategies from the perspective of two developmental markers: age and social reasoning

In this study, we examined coping from a developmental perspective, including its relation to age and social cognitive maturity. The 60 participants, who ranged from adolescents to mature adults, were given Lazarus' Ways of Coping Scale. This consists of both an emotion-focused and problem-focused coping score and two measures of social reasoning performance. Social reasoning was the best predictor of emotion-focused coping, above and beyond years of education and age. None of the developmental variables predicted problem-focused coping. Analyses examining the effect of perceived controllability of the stressful situation on coping demonstrated that it differentially mediated choice of coping strategy across age groups. Whereas older participants endorsed more problem-focused strategies in perceived controllable situations and emotion-focused strategies in perceived uncontrollable situations, adolescents endorsed emotion-focused and defensive coping styles, irrespective of perceived controllability. Implications for the study of development of coping styles in affectively salient contexts is discussed.