Abstract
OBJECTIVES:
Recent research suggests that older adults have difficulties with aspects of configural face processing. The present study examined whether age-related declines in sensitivity to configural face information are dependent on the face region in which configural changes occur.
METHOD:
Younger and older adults completed a face-matching task that required the detection of configural manipulations to either the eye or the mouth regions of target faces.
RESULTS:
Age-related declines in the ability to detect configural changes were found when the eye region of the face was modified. Importantly, no age-related differences were evident when perceiving similar changes to the mouth region.
DISCUSSION:
Taken together, these findings suggest that age-related differences in sensitivity to configural information are specific to the eye region of the face. The potential implications of these findings for age-related difficulties in interpreting social cues from the eyes are discussed.
Recent research suggests that older adults have difficulties with aspects of configural face processing. The present study examined whether age-related declines in sensitivity to configural face information are dependent on the face region in which configural changes occur.
METHOD:
Younger and older adults completed a face-matching task that required the detection of configural manipulations to either the eye or the mouth regions of target faces.
RESULTS:
Age-related declines in the ability to detect configural changes were found when the eye region of the face was modified. Importantly, no age-related differences were evident when perceiving similar changes to the mouth region.
DISCUSSION:
Taken together, these findings suggest that age-related differences in sensitivity to configural information are specific to the eye region of the face. The potential implications of these findings for age-related difficulties in interpreting social cues from the eyes are discussed.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 228–231 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences |
| Volume | 68 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 3 Aug 2012 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2013 |
Bibliographical note
FundingThis work was supported by a Sixth Century Fellowship from the University of Aberdeen and a small grant from the Nuffield Foundation (grant ref. SGS/38781) to G. Slessor.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Dr. Doug Martin for his comments on a previous version of this manuscript.
Keywords
- aging
- configural processing
- face features