Recognition and sex categorization of adults' and children's faces: Examining performance in the absence of sex-stereotyped cues

The ability of children and adults to classify the sex of children's and ad ults' faces using only the biologically based internal facial structure was investigated. Face images of 7- to 10-year-old children and of adults in t heir 20s were edited digitally to eliminate hairstyle and clothing cues to sex. Seven-year-olds, nine-year-olds, and adults classified a subset of the se faces by sex and were asked, subsequently, to recognize the faces from a mong the entire set of faces. This recognition task was designed to assess the relationship between categorization and recognition accuracy. Participa nt;, categorized the adult faces by sex at levels of accuracy varying from just above chance (7-year-olds) to nearly perfect (adults). All participant groups performed less accurately for children's faces than for adults' fac es. The 7-year-olds were unable to classify the children's faces by sex at levels above chance. Finally, the faces of children and adults were equally recognizable-a finding that has theoretical implications for understanding the relationship between categorizing and identifying faces. (C) 2000 Acad emic Press.