title: The face of aging: sensitivity to facial feature relations changes with age.
abstract: Fundamental to face processing is the ability to encode information about the spatial relations among facial features (configural information). Using a bizarreness rating paradigm, we found older adults differed from young adults in rating configurally distorted faces (eyes, mouth inverted) as less bizarre across all tested orientations (0° to 180°), and were more vulnerable to orientation effects when faces were rotated beyond 90°. No age-related differences in perception of either unaltered faces or featurally distorted faces (eyes whitened, teeth blackened) occurred. These findings identify changes in sensitivity to configural information as an important factor in age-related differences in face perception.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. jmur@psy.otago.ac.nz
authors.forename: Janice E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Jamin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Halberstadt
authors.forename: Ted
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ruffman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D005145:Face / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D055815:Young Adult