Biomaterial Database

Gender difference in recognition memory for neutral and emotional faces. 2013

Bo Wang

a Department of Psychology , Central University of Finance and Economics , Beijing , China.

Research has shown females' advantage in face memory, but few studies have used emotional faces as stimuli. In addition, it is unclear whether gender difference in memory for faces is mediated by individual factors especially associated with emotion. This study examined gender difference in recognition memory for neutral and emotional faces and whether arousal predisposition, emotion reappraisal, and emotion suppression can play a mediation role. Females (N=48) and males (N=45) viewed and memorised neutral, happy, and angry faces, and then took an immediate recognition test. The findings are: (1) Females outperformed males in recognition memory for happy faces, but not for neutral and negative faces. (2) Gender difference in recognition memory (including recollection and familiarity) was not mediated by arousal predisposition and emotion regulation. (3) Females had an own-sex bias in that they outperformed males with regard to recognition memory only for female faces, but not for male faces. The findings suggest that females' advantage is mediated by valence of face emotionality but not by arousal predisposition and emotion regulation, thus extending the literature by demonstrating the boundary condition for occurrence of females' advantage.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007206	Individuality	Those psychological characteristics which differentiate individuals from one another.	Individual Differences,Difference, Individual,Differences, Individual,Individual Difference
D007858	Learning	Relatively permanent change in behavior that is the result of past experience or practice. The concept includes the acquisition of knowledge.	Phenomenography
D008297	Male		Males
D011597	Psychomotor Performance	The coordination of a sensory or ideational (cognitive) process and a motor activity.	Perceptual Motor Performance,Sensory Motor Performance,Visual Motor Coordination,Coordination, Visual Motor,Coordinations, Visual Motor,Motor Coordination, Visual,Motor Coordinations, Visual,Motor Performance, Perceptual,Motor Performance, Sensory,Motor Performances, Perceptual,Motor Performances, Sensory,Perceptual Motor Performances,Performance, Perceptual Motor,Performance, Psychomotor,Performance, Sensory Motor,Performances, Perceptual Motor,Performances, Psychomotor,Performances, Sensory Motor,Psychomotor Performances,Sensory Motor Performances,Visual Motor Coordinations
D011795	Surveys and Questionnaires	Collections of data obtained from voluntary subjects. The information usually takes the form of answers to questions, or suggestions.	Community Survey,Nonrespondent,Questionnaire,Questionnaires,Respondent,Survey,Survey Method,Survey Methods,Surveys,Baseline Survey,Community Surveys,Methodology, Survey,Nonrespondents,Questionnaire Design,Randomized Response Technique,Repeated Rounds of Survey,Respondents,Survey Methodology,Baseline Surveys,Design, Questionnaire,Designs, Questionnaire,Methods, Survey,Questionnaire Designs,Questionnaires and Surveys,Randomized Response Techniques,Response Technique, Randomized,Response Techniques, Randomized,Survey, Baseline,Survey, Community,Surveys, Baseline,Surveys, Community,Techniques, Randomized Response
D004644	Emotions	Those affective states which can be experienced and have arousing and motivational properties.	Feelings,Regret,Emotion,Feeling,Regrets
D005145	Face	The anterior portion of the head that includes the skin, muscles, and structures of the forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, and jaw.	Faces
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000293	Adolescent	A person 13 to 18 years of age.	Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths