Abstract
This research tried to find out if there are gender differences in face recognition ability. There were 40 respondents, 20 male and 20 female, who Google formed an online face recognition task by memorizing 20 photos and then identifying them from 40 faces. Females were, however, correct in identifying more faces than males did. Unlike the females, the males did not display any bias in recognizing the faces of the opposite sex. On the other hand, females have a higher tendency to recognize female instead of male faces. Such data support the evidence that women’s ability to recognize faces, particularly the faces of women, is more vital. This indicates that women may have a higher social interest as well as concern about faces. The sample had a relatively small size. So, further research that involves bigger versatile groups of people should be done.
Introduction
Our earlier research provided evidence of female superiority in facial recognition, particularly regarding the recognition of female faces (Rehnman & Herlitz, 2007). Women tend to possess the “own-sex bias” Found in the Female form and recognize more female faces than male faces, whereas men do not show a parallel own-sex bias for male faces (Rehnman & Herlitz, 2007). There has even been a theory put forward saying that this female advantage in face recognition and the own-sex bias is attributed to women having greater social interest and focusing more on faces than men (Rehnman & Herlitz, 2007). The current study had the objective of finding whether the female advantage and the own-sex bias would be there in the facial recognition ability using a smaller sample of participants. This supposition claimed that women would be better at recognizing faces of both sexes with greater accuracy than female ones.
Method
Participants
A total of 40 participants, 20 male and 20 female, aged 18 to 25, were involved in the research and were recruited from a university campus.
Materials and Procedure
The participants were instructed to do the online facial recognition task wherein they had to look at 20 faces (10 male, ten females) each for 3 seconds during the study. A delay followed together with the presentation of 40 faces (the 20 familiar faces were included randomly in the 20 new diversion faces) and the question of whether each face was labelled “old” or “new”. Attachment (i.e. the number of participants’ hits and the number of their false alarms) was recorded. Participants’ hits are the cases when the old faces are identified correctly, while participants’ false alarms are when the new faces are identified as old.
Results
Both males and females identified more previously seen faces correctly overall (M = 16.25, SD = 2.19) versus males (M = 14.60, SD = 1.79), t(38) = 2.47, p = .018. On female faces, females (M = 8.85, SD = 1.18) identify more faces correctly than males (M = 7.25, SD = 1.45). However, how is this done since the relationship between perception and gender difference in face recognition seems to be a continuing debate? The finding for female faces is enjoyable for both groups, with Fs = 9.67, p<.01 for females (M = 7.40, SD = 1.47) and t(38) = .11, p = .91 for males (8.35, SD = 1.09). The genders of the participants did not significantly affect the false alarm rates.
Discussion
This study also confirmed other research revealing that women on average are more accurate in recognizing facial expressions from images (Rehnman & Herlitz, 2007), especially for female faces. The objective of this study was fulfilled because female participants had better facial recognition skills, and male participants had better visualization abilities. Females, too, revealed a notable own-sex bias for female faces being recognized better than male ones; however, the male group did not show any group difference between male and female faces. This yielded more support for the fact that women spend more time in social interaction, which is why they often look at faces, particularly of their gender. Restricting the sample size to 40 would hinder the power to detect more complex gender differences. Future studies would be of interest to assess a more diverse and more extensive population. Besides the individual differences found in students’ gender schemas, other aspects could also be analyzed (Rehnman & Herlitz, 2007). Collectively, these results highlight gender biases in the human ability to recognize faces.
References
Rehnman, J., & Herlitz, A. (2007). Women remember more faces than men do. Acta Psychologica, 124, 344-355.
Appendix A:Informed Consent Form
You are invited to join a research project that aims to gain a better understanding of facial recognition capacity.
In case you take part, you will do an online facial recognition task of remembering a particular set of photos and, after that, identifying these photos from a significant number. large is estimated to be completed in about 15 minutes.
There are no known risks in this research with the participation of the participants that concern only life in everyday life. Your involvement will contribute to the existing knowledge of gender differences in cognitive capabilities.
Participation is totally voluntary, and you may opt out at any moment. The fact that your responses will remain anonymous is assured – no identifying information will be collected from you. This study of data can be published in scientific journals or presented at conferences, but results will only be reported in an aggregated form.
Feel free to come forward with any questions regarding this study and visit [researcher contact info]. When you click on “I agree”, you know that you are 18 years old and older, have read this consent form, and accept to participate actively in the research.
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