Perceptual integrality of sex and identity of faces: further evidence for the single-route hypothesis.
According to current face-recognition models, sex (gender) and identity of faces are processed in independent routes. Using Garner's speeded-classification task, the authors provide evidence that sex and identity are processed within a single route. In 4 experiments, participants judged the sex or the familiarity of faces while the other dimension remained constant or varied randomly. The results of Experiments 1, 2, and 4 showed that participants could not selectively attend to either sex or familiarity without being influenced by the other, irrelevant dimension. Thus, identity and sex are integral dimensions. Experiment 3 provided evidence that when sex judgments are based on hairstyle heuristics, false separability can emerge. The findings support the claim that identity and sex are processed within a single route.
Ganel
Tzvi
T
Department of Psychology, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel. ganel@freud.tau.ac.il
Goshen-Gottstein
Yonatan
Y
D000328:Adult; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D011582:Psychological Theory; D011930:Reaction Time; D012723:Sex; D012938:Social Perception; D014796:Visual Perception