Wang Hao, Yang Zhigang
College of Education, Hebei University, China.
Handan Preschool Teachers College, China.
Iperception. 2025 Aug 25;16(4):20416695251364206. doi: 10.1177/20416695251364206. eCollection 2025 Jul-Aug.
Face pareidolia refers to perceiving facial features on inanimate objects. Previous studies have identified gender differences in pareidolia, but the factors behind these differences remain unclear. This study examined potential influences, including task requirement, low-frequency information encoding ability, and cognitive style. University student participants reported what they saw in face-like object images and rated their face-likeness. A delayed matching task with blurred faces assessed encoding ability, and the Navon task examined cognitive style. Results showed that gender differences were influenced by task demands: women were more likely than men to perceive faces in objects, and this was not related to facial configuration processing. Additionally, a global processing tendency predicted higher pareidolia in women but not in men. Our findings suggest that gender differences in pareidolia are shaped by judgment criteria, with women adopting more relaxed criteria. This research contributes to understanding gender differences in social cognition.
面部空想性错视是指在无生命物体上感知到面部特征。以往的研究已经确定了空想性错视中的性别差异，但这些差异背后的因素仍不清楚。本研究考察了潜在影响因素，包括任务要求、低频信息编码能力和认知风格。大学生参与者报告了他们在类脸物体图像中看到的内容，并对其面部相似度进行了评分。一项带有模糊面孔的延迟匹配任务评估了编码能力，而纳冯任务则考察了认知风格。结果表明，性别差异受任务需求的影响：女性比男性更有可能在物体中感知到面孔，且这与面部构型加工无关。此外，整体加工倾向预示着女性有更高的空想性错视，但男性并非如此。我们的研究结果表明，空想性错视中的性别差异是由判断标准塑造的，女性采用的标准更为宽松。这项研究有助于理解社会认知中的性别差异。
