Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. A substantial body of research has assessed the effect of gender on face recognition; however, little is known about the effect of relationship status on face recognition. In this study, we assessed for the first time how relationship status impacts face recognition by asking 62 male and female participants to decide whether they had previously encountered faces of males and females.
Participants were also asked to fill a socio-demographic variables questionnaire which included, among other information, question about their relationship status i. A significant effect of relationship status on face recognition was observed only in males; namely, single males demonstrated higher face recognition than males in relationships, whereas similar face recognition was observed in single and in-relationship females. More specifically, single males demonstrated higher recognition for female than for male faces, whereas no differences were observed in single females, males in relationships, or in females in relationship.
Single males seem to be motivated by mating opportunity and, thus, unlike single females or males and females in relationships, devote high attentional resources to processing faces of the opposite gender.
Keywords: face recognition, gender differences, evolutionary theory, relationship status. Face processing is a crucial social cognitive ability. Unsurprisingly, substantial literature has been devoted to this topic.
The advantage of females in face recognition can be attributed to better perception of emotional expressions. Females are better at recognizing and interpreting emotional facial expressions, a difference already apparent in infancy McClure, There is also evidence that, on an attentional level, females process faces faster and more efficiently than males Bowles et al. Besides gender differences, face recognition may be impacted by relationship status i.
