Face coding varies by gender, sexual orientation, & handedness

July, 2010

Why are women better at recognizing faces? Apparently it has to do with using both sides of your brain, and homosexual men tend to do it too.

Why do women tend to be better than men at recognizing faces? Two recent studies give a clue, and also explain inconsistencies in previous research, some of which has found that face recognition mainly happens in the right hemisphere part of the face fusiform area, and some that face recognition occurs bilaterally. One study found that, while men tended to process face recognition in the right hemisphere only, women tended to process the information in both hemispheres. Another study found that both women and gay men tended to use both sides of the brain to process faces (making them faster at retrieving faces), while heterosexual men tended to use only the right. It also found that homosexual males have better face recognition memory than heterosexual males and homosexual women, and that women have better face processing than men. Additionally, left-handed heterosexual participants had better face recognition abilities than left-handed homosexuals, and also tended to be better than right-handed heterosexuals. In other words, bilaterality (using both sides of your brain) seems to make you faster and more accurate at recognizing people, and bilaterality is less likely in right-handers and heterosexual males (and perhaps homosexual women). Previous research has shown that homosexual individuals are 39% more likely to be left-handed.

Reference: 

Proverbio AM, Riva F, Martin E, Zani A (2010) Face Coding Is Bilateral in the Female Brain. PLoS ONE 5(6): e11242. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011242

[1611] Brewster, P. W. H., Mullin C. R., Dobrin R. A., & Steeves J. K. E.
(2010).  Sex differences in face processing are mediated by handedness and sexual orientation.
Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition.

Related News

Recent rodent studies add to our understanding of how estrogen affects learning and memory.

Because male superiority in mental rotation appears to be evident at a very young age, it has been suggested that testosterone may be a factor.

Following a monkey study that found training in spatial memory could raise females to the level of males, and human studies suggesting the video games might help reduce gender differences in spatial processing (see below for these), a new study shows that training in spatial skills can eliminate

A study involving 120 toddlers, tested at 14, 24, and 36 months, has assessed language skills (spoken vocabulary and talkativeness) and the development of self-regulation. Self-regulation is an important skill that predicts later academic and social success.

A study involving 2,050 people aged 70 to 89 has found that mild cognitive impairment was 1.5 times more common in men than women.

A number of studies have demonstrated that negative stereotypes (such as “women are bad at math”) can impair performance in tests. Now a new study shows that this effect extends to learning. The study involved learning to recognize target Chinese characters among sets of two or four.

A German study involving nearly 4000 older adults (55+) has found that physical activity significantly reduced the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment over a two-year period.

Consistent with studies showing that gender stereotypes can worsen math performance in females, a year-long study involving 17 first- and second-grade teachers and their 52 boy and 65 girl students has found that boys' math performance was not related to their (female) teacher's math anxiety whi

A study involving 155 women aged 65-75 has found that those who participated in resistance training once or twice weekly for a year significantly improved their selective attention (maintaining mental focus) and conflict resolution (as well as muscular function of course!), compared to those who

A brain scanning study using Pittsburgh Compound B, involving 42 heal

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news
Error | About memory

Error

The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.