Child and Adult Sensitivity to Gender Information in Patterns of Facial Motion

Sixty 5-year-olds and 120 adults participated in research that examined the development of sensitivity to gender information in patterns of facial motion. Subjects were asked to identify the gender of static or dynamic versions of point-light stimulus faces. The dynamic facial displays were filmed either while the stimulus recited the alphabet or while they were engaged in an interaction. Although adults' levels of identification accuracy were greater than those obtained by children, both age groups were able to identify the gender of dynamic facial displays at greater than chance levels. However, adults were able to identify the gender of both reciting and interacting faces, whereas children could only discriminate sex at greater than chance levels when observing interacting faces.