The Effects Of Face Emotional Valance On Age Classification

Face age is an important factor affecting the perception of faces. Early studies found that the recognition results to own-age faces is better than the results to other-age results, a phenomenon known as own-age effect. With the in-depth study of the effect of age, the researchers found another age effect that other-age classification advantage, the performance of the classification of other age faster than the classification speed of own age faces. The own-age bias and other-age classification advantage are belong to the age effect, the researchers carried out a large number of own-age effects research, but relatively little research on the advantages of other age classification. Discussion on the other-age classification advantages can enrich study of age-related effects, dig mechanism behind age effect, providing more direct experimental evidence for the existing hypothesis into a complete theoretical system on the age-related effects. In addition to the academic meaning, practical reference value age effect has also prompted us to further explore this area. In daily life, unable to accurately identify the faces of members of different ages may be 10 people interpersonal activities bring some unnecessary trouble and embarrassment. Thererore, according to the research results of the effect of age can take appropriate measures to improve the difference of individual responses to different age faces, which for people’s actual life is necessary. Although the own-age bias has been widely confirmed, there is no clear explanation for the interaction between own-age bias and other-age classification advantage. Other-age classification advantage and own-age bias may be two aspects of cause and effect, and the integration of the two age effects study can be for internal mechanism of age face processing to provide more convincing evidence. Also of own-age bias of pointed out, on the faces of the own age recognition advantage due to the more effective such as whole process, then in the age classification, faces of different ages, whether to take the different processing methods. Early studies found that emotional faces will influence subjects of different age face recognition, negative emotional faces will lead to disappearance of the own-age effect. In daily life, the emotional faces is an important social stimulation, but in the early research of emotion, researchers did not the interaction of emotional faces and face age in-depth research, then in age classification task, different facial emotion would influence the classification of different age faces?To solve the above problems, the present studies were designed three experiments:In Experimental 1, we study the other-age classification advantage in the different age classification task, as well as the advantages of early classification of other ages can predict whether a better recognition of own-age faces in latter recognition test.In Experiment 2, using the face inversion paradigm investigates whether there is an inverted effect of age classification.In Experimental 3, using three different ages of emotional faces, examine the interaction between face age and face emotional.Research results showed that:1. The classification time of elderly face is faster than the time for the youth face classification, showing an other-age classification advantage, and there is no own-age bias in recognition task, meaning that the faster classification time to other-age faces cannot predict the better recognition to own-age faces.2. There are inversion effect in own-age faces and other-age faces, meaning that there is a whole process for the face of different ages.3. Face emotions can affect face age classification, negative emotions will affect face classification, the protect to negative emotions are faster than the protect to face age, leading to the disappear of other-age classification advantage.