Abstract
To investigate the interaction between facial expressions and facial gender information during face perception, the present study matched the intensities of the two types of information in face images and then adopted the orthogonal condition of the Garner Paradigm to present the images to participants who were required to judge the gender and expression of the faces; the gender and expression presentations were varied orthogonally. Gender and expression processing displayed a mutual interaction. On the one hand, the judgment of angry expressions occurred faster when presented with male facial images; on the other hand, the classification of the female gender occurred faster when presented with a happy facial expression than when presented with an angry facial expression. According to the evoked-related potential results, the expression classification was influenced by gender during the face structural processing stage (as indexed by N170), which indicates the promotion or interference of facial gender with the coding of facial expression features. However, gender processing was affected by facial expressions in more stages, including the early (P1) and late (LPC) stages of perceptual processing, reflecting that emotional expression influences gender processing mainly by directing attention.
Highlights
Facial expressions and gender information are always intertwined in human faces
A significant interaction was observed between facial expression and gender, FIGURE 2 | Participants’ accuracy (A,B) and response times (C,D) as a function of facial emotion and gender; the left images (A,C) reflect the effect of gender on expression processing; the right images (B,D) reflect the effect of expression on gender processing. ∗p < 0.05, ∗∗∗p < 0.001
The results of the analysis revealed a significant task × facial expressions × gender interaction [P1 component, F(1,19) = 7.04, p < 0.05, η2p = 0.27; N170 component, F(1,19) = 15.05, p < 0.05, η2p = 0.44; late positive component (LPC) component, F(1,19) = 4.48, p < 0.05, η2p = 0.19]
Summary
Facial expressions and gender information are always intertwined in human faces. We perceive a difference between a crying male and a crying female because there is an interaction between facial expression information and gender information. Previous studies have provided evidence to support this idea; for example, participants were usually faster and more accurate in detecting angry expressions on male faces and happy expressions on female faces (Becker et al, 2007), and gender classification occurred faster with happy female faces than angry female faces (Aguado et al, 2009). Previous studies have provided neurophysiological evidence of an interaction between facial expression and gender. An evoked-related potential (ERP) study revealed an interaction between facial expressions and gender in the face-sensitive N170 component (Valdés-Conroy et al, 2014). A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study revealed that the left amygdala in female
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
