Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Memory. 2012;20(3):199-209. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2011.651089. Epub 2012 Feb 1.
Gaze direction plays a central role in face recognition. Previous research suggests that faces with direct gaze are better remembered than faces with averted gaze. We compared recognition of faces with direct versus averted gaze in male versus female participants. A total of 52 adults (23 females, 29 males) and 46 children (25 females, 21 males) completed a computerised task that assessed their recognition of faces with direct gaze and faces with averted gaze. Adult male participants showed superior recognition of faces with direct gaze compared to faces with averted gaze. There was no difference between recognition of direct and averted gaze faces for the adult female participants. Children did not demonstrate this sex difference; rather, both male and female youth participants showed better recognition of faces with direct gaze compared to averted gaze. A large body of previous research has revealed superior recognition of faces with direct, compared to averted gaze. However, relatively few studies have examined sex differences. Our findings suggest that gaze direction has differential effects on face recognition for adult males and females, but not for children. These findings have implications for previous explanations of better recognition for direct versus averted gaze.
注视方向在人脸识别中起着核心作用。先前的研究表明，与侧视相比，正视的面孔更容易被记住。我们比较了男性和女性参与者对正视和侧视面孔的识别。共有 52 名成年人（23 名女性，29 名男性）和 46 名儿童（25 名女性，21 名男性）完成了一项计算机任务，评估他们对正视和侧视面孔的识别能力。成年男性参与者对正视面孔的识别优于侧视面孔。成年女性参与者对正视和侧视面孔的识别没有差异。儿童没有表现出这种性别差异；相反，男性和女性青年参与者对正视面孔的识别都优于侧视面孔。大量先前的研究表明，与侧视相比，正视的面孔更容易被识别。然而，很少有研究检查性别差异。我们的发现表明，注视方向对视对成年男性和女性的人脸识别有不同的影响，但对儿童没有影响。这些发现对先前关于正视与侧视识别更好的解释有影响。
