The Relative Salience of Physiognomic Cues in Differentiating Faces: A Methodological Tool

This research utilized a novel methodology to explore the relative salience of facial cues to age, sex, race, and emotion in differentiating faces. Inspired by the Stroop interference effect, participants viewed pairs of schematic faces on a computer that differed simultaneously along two facial dimensions (e.g., race and age) and were prompted to make similarity judgments about the faces along one of the dimensions (e.g., race). On a second round of trials, judgments were made along the other dimension (e.g., age). Analysis of response speed and accuracy revealed that participants judged the race of the faces more quickly and with fewer errors compared to their age, gender, or emotional expression. Methodological and theoretical implications for studying the role of facial cues in social perception are discussed.