Culture Shapes Efficiency of Facial Age Judgments

Gizelle Anzures,Liezhong Ge,Kang Lee,Zhe Wang,Shoji Itakura,Hans P Op De Beeck

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011679

Gizelle Anzures, Liezhong Ge + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0011679

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Abstract

BackgroundCultural differences in socialization can lead to characteristic differences in how we perceive the world. Consistent with this influence of differential experience, our perception of faces (e.g., preference, recognition ability) is shaped by our previous experience with different groups of individuals.Methodology/Principal FindingsHere, we examined whether cultural differences in social practices influence our perception of faces. Japanese, Chinese, and Asian-Canadian young adults made relative age judgments (i.e., which of these two faces is older?) for East Asian faces. Cross-cultural differences in the emphasis on respect for older individuals was reflected in participants' latency in facial age judgments for middle-age adult faces—with the Japanese young adults performing the fastest, followed by the Chinese, then the Asian-Canadians. In addition, consistent with the differential behavioural and linguistic markers used in the Japanese culture when interacting with individuals younger than oneself, only the Japanese young adults showed an advantage in judging the relative age of children's faces.Conclusions/SignificanceOur results show that different sociocultural practices shape our efficiency in processing facial age information. The impact of culture may potentially calibrate other aspects of face processing.

Highlights

The ability to process faces is crucial in our daily social interactions; deficits in this ability lead to debilitating social consequences as in the case of autism or prosopagnosia
From among the various types of information that one can abstract from a face, we focus on facial age perception because of marked cultural differences in the amount of emphasis placed on the age of social partners
To determine whether differential sociocultural experience influences relative facial age judgments, an ANOVA was conducted with stimulus facial age as a within-subjects factor, participant ethnicity as a between-subjects factor, and adjusted reaction time as the dependent variable

Summary

Introduction

The ability to process faces is crucial in our daily social interactions; deficits in this ability lead to debilitating social consequences as in the case of autism or prosopagnosia. There exist no established behavioural or linguistic displays of such respect, and disrespect towards the elderly is common [13] These unique cultural differences in social interactions with different age groups may very well result in differences in processing facial age information. The Japanese custom of differentially interacting with younger, older, and sameage individuals might cultivate more sophisticated processing of facial age information for younger, older, and same-age individuals relative to the Chinese and North American cultures. Relative to the North American culture, the Chinese culture which only places emphasis on respect for older individuals, might only cultivate more sophisticated processing of facial age information for adults rather than children. The present study examined whether differential sociocultural experiences influence fine-grained facial age perception by asking participants to make relative age judgments for male Asian faces. If facial age perception is influenced by differential culturally dictated emphasis on the age of social partners, Japanese participants should be most proficient in their age judgments, followed by the Chinese participants, the Asian-Canadians

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