Age Differences in Gaze Following: Older Adults Follow Gaze More than Younger Adults When free-viewing Scenes.

Previous research investigated age differences in gaze following with an attentional cueing paradigm where participants view a face with averted gaze, and then respond to a target appearing in a location congruent or incongruent with the gaze cue. However, this paradigm is far removed from the way we use gaze cues in everyday settings. Here we recorded the eye movements of younger and older adults while they freely viewed naturalistic scenes where a person looked at an object or location. Older adults were more likely to fixate and made more fixations to the gazed-at location, compared to younger adults. Our findings suggest that, contrary to what was observed in the traditional gaze-cueing paradigm, in a non-constrained task that uses contextualized stimuli older adults follow gaze as much as or even more than younger adults.

Gaze detection and gaze cuing in Alzheimer's disease.

People with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show problems with social processing in tasks which require the understanding of others' mental states. However traditional social processing tasks are cognitively complex, which may influence the effects of AD. Less is known about how AD influences more basic aspects of social perception, such as the ability to decode eye gaze direction or follow the gaze of another. The current research assessed whether those with AD showed difficulty in both explicitly decoding subtle manipulations of gaze direction (Study 1), and reflexively following another's eye gaze (Study 2). Those with AD were more impaired than a matched control group when making explicit discrimination distinctions between direct and averted gaze. In contrast people with Alzheimer's disease performed comparably to a control group when following gaze. This pattern indicates that more automatic aspects of social perception such as gaze following are unaffected by AD. In contrast, more controlled processes such as deciding whether someone is looking towards you are impaired in AD. This has implications for socially engaging with other people and interpreting their focus of interest.

Age-related similarities and differences in first impressions of trustworthiness.

Trust is a particularly under-studied aspect of social relationships in older age. In the current study, young (n = 35) and older adults (n = 35) completed a series of one-shot social economic trust games in which they invested real money with trustees. There were potential gains with each investment and also a risk of losing everything if the trustee was untrustworthy. The reputation and facial appearance of each trustee were manipulated to make them appear more or less trustworthy. Results revealed that young and older adults invest more money with trustees whose facial appearance and reputation indicate that they are trustworthy rather than untrustworthy. However, older adults were more likely than young to invest with trustees who had a reputation for being untrustworthy. We discuss whether age-related differences in responding to negative information may account for an age-related increase in trust, particularly when trusting someone with a reputation for being uncooperative.

The spontaneous formation of stereotypes via cumulative cultural evolution.

All people share knowledge of cultural stereotypes of social groups--but what are the origins of these stereotypes? We examined whether stereotypes form spontaneously as information is repeatedly passed from person to person. As information about novel social targets was passed down a chain of individuals, what initially began as a set of random associations evolved into a system that was simplified and categorically structured. Over time, novel stereotypes emerged that not only were increasingly learnable but also allowed generalizations to be made about previously unseen social targets. By illuminating how cognitive and social factors influence how stereotypes form and change, these findings show how stereotypes might naturally evolve or be manipulated.

Exploring own-age biases in deception detection.

The present study explored own-age biases in deception detection, investigating whether individuals were more likely to trust those in their own-age group. Younger and older participants were asked to detect deceit from videos of younger and older speakers, rating their confidence in each decision. Older participants showed an own-age bias: they were more likely to think that deceptive speakers of their own age, relative to younger speakers, were telling the truth. Older participants were also more confident in their judgements of own-age, relative to other-age, speakers. There were no own-age biases for younger participants. In a subsequent (apparently unrelated) task, participants were asked to rate the trustworthiness of the speakers. Both age groups of participants trusted younger speakers who had previously told the truth more compared to those who had lied. This effect was not found for older speakers. These findings are considered in relation to the in-group/out-group model of social cognition and common stereotypical beliefs held about younger and older adults.

Many Mickles Make a Muckle: Evidence That Gender Stereotypes Reemerge Spontaneously Via Cultural Evolution.

We explore whether societal gender stereotypes re-emerge as social information is repeatedly passed from person to person. We examined whether peoples' memories of personality attributes associated with female and male social targets became increasingly consistent with societal gender stereotypes as information was passed down social transmission chains. After passing through the memories of just four generations of participants, our initially gender-balanced micro-societies became rife with traditional gender stereotypes. While we found some evidence of the re-emergence of gender stereotypes in Experiment 1, we found the effects were stronger when targets appeared in a feminine-stereotyped occupational context (Experiment 2), and a masculine-stereotyped occupational context (Experiment 3); conversely, the re-emergence of gender stereotypes was attenuated when targets appeared in a single gender context (Experiment 4). The current findings demonstrate that gender schematic memory bias, if widely shared, might cause gender stereotypes to be maintained through cultural evolution.

Intergroup processes and the happy face advantage: How social categories influence emotion categorization.

There is abundant evidence that emotion categorization is influenced by the social category membership of target faces, with target sex and target race modulating the ease with which perceivers can categorize happy and angry emotional expressions. However, theoretical interpretation of these findings is constrained by gender and race imbalances in both the participant samples and target faces typically used when demonstrating these effects (e.g., most participants have been White women and most Black targets have been men). Across seven experiments, the current research used gender-matched samples (Experiments 1a and 1b), gender- and racial identity-matched samples (Experiments 2a and 2b), and manipulations of social context (Experiments 3a, 3b, and 4) to establish whether emotion categorization is influenced by interactions between the social category membership of perceivers and target faces. Supporting this idea, we found the presence and size of the happy face advantage were influenced by interactions between perceivers and target social categories, with reliable happy face advantages in reaction times for ingroup targets but not necessarily for outgroup targets. White targets and female targets were the only categories associated with a reliable happy face advantage that was independent of perceiver category. The interactions between perceiver and target social category were eliminated when targets were blocked by social category (e.g., a block of all White female targets; Experiments 3a and 3b) and accentuated when targets were associated with additional category information (i.e., ingroup/outgroup nationality; Experiment 4). These findings support the possibility that contextually sensitive intergroup processes influence emotion categorization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Adult aging, processing style, and the perception of biological motion.

UNLABELLED: BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: Social perception may be influenced by the extent to which individuals focus on global, rather than local, detail-based, processing of information about others. Here the authors investigated whether global processing biases relate to successful detection of actions and emotions from point-light biological motion (BM) stimuli. Also explored is whether age differences in BM perception and global-local processing biases are related. METHODS: One hundred and twenty-seven participants (aged 18 to 86) completed tasks assessing BM perception and global-local processing. RESULTS: Successful decoding of actions and emotions from BM stimuli was correlated with global processing bias. Older adults performed more poorly on BM decoding and had a local processing bias. However, age differences in global-local processing could not fully explain differences in decoding actions or emotions from point-light displays. CONCLUSION: Therefore, although there was an association between age, perceptual processing bias, and detection of BM, other factors must be important in explaining age-related change in social perception.

Adult Age Differences in Using Information From the Eyes and Mouth to Make Decisions About Others' Emotions.

OBJECTIVES: Older adults are often less accurate than younger counterparts at identifying emotions such as anger, sadness, and fear from faces. They also look less at the eyes and more at the mouth during emotion perception. The current studies advance understanding of the nature of these age effects on emotional processing. METHODS: Younger and older participants identified emotions from pictures of eyes or mouths (Experiment 1) and incongruent mouth-eyes emotion combinations (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, participants categorized emotions from pictures in which face masks covered the mouth region. RESULTS: Older adults were worse than young at identifying anger and sadness from eyes, but better at identifying the same emotions from the mouth region (Experiment 1) and they were more likely than young to use information from the mouth to classify anger, fear, and disgust (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, face masks impaired perception of anger, sadness, and fear more for older compared to younger adults. DISCUSSION: These studies indicate that older people are more able than young to interpret emotional information from the mouth, they are more biased to use information from the mouth, and suffer more difficulty in emotion perception when the mouth is covered with a face mask. This has implications for social communication in different age groups.

The interplay between gaze and consistency in scene viewing: Evidence from visual search by young and older adults.

Searching for an object in a complex scene is influenced by high-level factors such as how much the item would be expected in that setting (semantic consistency). There is also evidence that a person gazing at an object directs our attention towards it. However, there has been little previous research that has helped to understand how we integrate top-down cues such as semantic consistency and gaze to direct attention when searching for an object. Also, there are separate lines of evidence to suggest that older adults may be more influenced by semantic factors and less by gaze cues compared to younger counterparts, but this has not been investigated before in an integrated task. In the current study we analysed eye-movements of 34 younger and 30 older adults as they searched for a target object in complex visual scenes. Younger adults were influenced by semantic consistency in their attention to objects, but were more influenced by gaze cues. In contrast, older adults were more guided by semantic consistency in directing their attention, and showed less influence from gaze cues. These age differences in use of high-level cues were apparent early in processing (time to first fixation and probability of immediate fixation) but not in later processing (total time looking at objects and time to make a response). Overall, this pattern of findings indicates that people are influenced by both social cues and prior expectations when processing a complex scene, and the relative importance of these factors depends on age.

Gaze-cueing and endogenous attention operate in parallel.

The present research assessed the nature of endogenous shifts of attention based on internally generated expectations (i.e., target location probability) and involuntary attention shifts following eye-gaze cues from line-drawings of schematic faces (Experiment 1) and photographs of real neutral faces (Experiment 2) and fearful faces (Experiment 3). The time-course of these two forms of attention was explored by manipulating the gaze-target SOA (i.e., 100 ms, 200 ms, 300 ms). In all three experiments, target location probability influenced responding at each SOA with faster responses to high probability than low probability targets. However, the time-course of involuntary attention shifts was dependent on the gaze-cueing stimulus employed. For photographs of neutral gaze, endogenous orienting of attention was most efficient at the briefest SOA with involuntary attention shifts emerging later. However, both schematic and fearful gaze-cues influenced responding across all SOAs, which is indicative of stronger gaze-cueing effects from these cues. At 200 ms there was an additive effect as responses were slowest when the target had been invalidly cued by neutral gaze and also appeared in the low probability location. Taken together these findings suggest that these forms of involuntary and endogenous attention can operate in parallel and relatively independently, but can show potentially differing levels of influence, dependent on the time course in which they take to operate.

Age-related declines in basic social perception: evidence from tasks assessing eye-gaze processing.

Previous research has investigated age differences in complex social perception tasks such as theory of mind and emotion recognition, with predominant findings of age-related declines. The present study investigated whether there are also age-related changes in basic aspects of social perception. Individuals' ability both to detect subtle differences in eye-gaze direction (e.g., where someone is looking in the environment) and to subsequently use these gaze cues to engage in joint attention with others was assessed. Age-related declines were found in the detection of the most subtle differences in gaze aversion. The ability to engage in joint attention by following gaze cues also declined with age. These age differences were not solely attributable to age impairments in visual perception and visual attention. The potential role of age-related neural declines in social perception problems was considered, along with the implications that age deficits in these basic social skills may have for older adults' social perception.

Context and Perceptual Salience Influence the Formation of Novel Stereotypes via Cumulative Cultural Evolution.

We use a transmission chain method to establish how context and category salience influence the formation of novel stereotypes through cumulative cultural evolution. We created novel alien targets by combining features from three category dimensions-color, movement, and shape-thereby creating social targets that were individually unique but that also shared category membership with other aliens (e.g., two aliens might be the same color and shape but move differently). At the start of the transmission chains each alien was randomly assigned attributes that described it (e.g., arrogant, caring, confident). Participants were given training on the alien-attribute assignments and were then tested on their memory for these. The alien-attribute assignments participants produced during test were used as the training materials for the next participant in the transmission chain. As information was repeatedly transmitted an increasingly simplified, learnable stereotype-like structure emerged for targets who shared the same color, such that by the end of the chains targets who shared the same color were more likely to share the same attributes (a reanalysis of data from Martin et al., which we term Experiment 1). The apparent bias toward the formation of novel stereotypes around the color category dimension was also found for objects (Experiment 2). However, when the category dimension of color was made less salient, it no longer dominated the formation of novel stereotypes (Experiment 3). The current findings suggest that context and category salience influence category dimension salience, which in turn influences the cumulative cultural evolution of information.

Exploring the specificity of age-related differences in theory of mind tasks.

Tasks assessing theory of mind (ToM) and non-mental state control tasks were administered to young and older adults to examine previous contradictory findings about age differences in mental state decoding. Age differences were found on a verbal ToM task after controlling for vocabulary levels. Older adults achieved significantly lower scores than did younger adults on static and dynamic visual ToM tasks, and a similar pattern was found on non-ToM control tasks. Rather than a specific ToM deficit, older adults exhibited a more general impairment in the ability to decode cues from verbal and visual information about people.

Specificity of Age-Related Differences in Eye-Gaze Following: Evidence From Social and Nonsocial Stimuli.

BACKGROUND: Eye-gaze following is a fundamental social skill, facilitating communication. The present series of studies explored adult age-related differences in this key social-cognitive ability. METHOD: In Study 1 younger and older adult participants completed a cueing task in which eye-gaze cues were predictive or non-predictive of target location. Another eye-gaze cueing task, assessing the influence of congruent and incongruent eye-gaze cues relative to trials which provided no cue to target location, was administered in Study 2. Finally, in Study 3 the eye-gaze cue was replaced by an arrow. RESULTS: In Study 1 older adults showed less evidence of gaze following than younger participants when required to strategically follow predictive eye-gaze cues and when making automatic shifts of attention to non-predictive eye-gaze cues. Findings from Study 2 suggested that, unlike younger adults, older participants showed no facilitation effect and thus did not follow congruent eye-gaze cues. They also had significantly weaker attentional costs than their younger counterparts. These age-related differences were not found in the non-social arrow cueing task. DISCUSSION: Taken together these findings suggest older adults do not use eye-gaze cues to engage in joint attention, and have specific social difficulties decoding critical information from the eye region.

Trust and trustworthiness in young and older adults.

In a series of 1-shot economic trust games in which participants could make real monetary profits, but also risked losing money, 2 studies compared young and older adults' trust (amount invested with trustees) and trustworthiness (amount returned to investors by trustees). In Study 1, young (n = 35) and older (n = 32) participants acted as investors, and the age of simulated trustees (young, older) was manipulated. In Study 2, young (n = 61) and older (n = 67) participants acted in real life as both investors and trustees. They completed 2 face-to-face trust games with same- and other-age partners, and 3 anonymous trust games with same-, other-, and unknown-age partners. Study 1 found that young and older participants rate older trustees as appearing more trustworthy than young trustees, but neither group invest more with older than young trustees. Rather, older participants were more likely than young participants to invest money averaged across trustee age. In Study 2, there were no age-related differences in trust, but older adults were more trustworthy than young adults in anonymous games with same- and unknown-age partners. It was also found that young adults demonstrate greater reputational concerns than older adults by reciprocating more trust when face-to-face than anonymous. We discuss the complex influences of age on trust game investing and reciprocation, as well as the implications for older adults' wellbeing and financial security.

Examining the time course of young and older adults' mimicry of enjoyment and nonenjoyment smiles.

Electromyographic (EMG) research suggests that implicit mimicry of happy facial expressions remains intact with age. However, age-related differences in EMG responses to enjoyment and nonenjoyment smiles have not been explored. The present study assessed younger and older adults' orbicularis oculi (O.oculi; eye) and zygomaticus major (Z.major; cheek) reactions to images of individuals displaying enjoyment and nonenjoyment smiles. Both age groups mimicked displays of enjoyment smiles, and there were no age differences in O.oculi and Z.major activity to these expressions. However, compared with younger participants, older adults showed extended O.oculi activity to nonenjoyment smiles. In an explicit ratings task, older adults were also more likely than younger participants to attribute feelings of happiness to individuals displaying both nonenjoyment and enjoyment smiles. However, participants' ratings of the happiness expressed in images of enjoyment and nonenjoyment smiles were independent of their O.oculi responding to these expressions, suggesting that mimicry and emotion recognition may reflect separate processes. Potential mechanisms underlying these findings, as well as implications for social affiliation in older adulthood, are considered.

Age differences in conscious versus subconscious social perception: the influence of face age and valence on gaze following.

Gaze following is the primary means of establishing joint attention with others and is subject to age-related decline. In addition, young but not older adults experience an own-age bias in gaze following. The current research assessed the effects of subconscious processing on these age-related differences. Participants responded to targets that were either congruent or incongruent with the direction of gaze displayed in supraliminal and subliminal images of young and older faces. These faces displayed either neutral (Study 1) or happy and fearful (Study 2) expressions. In Studies 1 and 2, both age groups demonstrated gaze-directed attention by responding faster to targets that were congruent as opposed to incongruent with gaze-cues. In Study 1, subliminal stimuli did not attenuate the age-related decline in gaze-cuing, but did result in an own-age bias among older participants. In Study 2, gaze-cuing was reduced for older relative to young adults in response to supraliminal stimuli, and this could not be attributed to reduced visual acuity or age group differences in the perceived emotional intensity of the gaze-cue faces. Moreover, there were no age differences in gaze-cuing when responding to subliminal faces that were emotionally arousing. In addition, older adults demonstrated an own-age bias for both conscious and subconscious gaze-cuing when faces expressed happiness but not fear. We discuss growing evidence for age-related preservation of subconscious relative to conscious social perception, as well as an interaction between face age and valence in social perception.

Age-related differences in processing face configuration: the importance of the eye region.

OBJECTIVES: Recent research suggests that older adults have difficulties with aspects of configural face processing. The present study examined whether age-related declines in sensitivity to configural face information are dependent on the face region in which configural changes occur. METHOD: Younger and older adults completed a face-matching task that required the detection of configural manipulations to either the eye or the mouth regions of target faces. RESULTS: Age-related declines in the ability to detect configural changes were found when the eye region of the face was modified. Importantly, no age-related differences were evident when perceiving similar changes to the mouth region. DISCUSSION: Taken together, these findings suggest that age-related differences in sensitivity to configural information are specific to the eye region of the face. The potential implications of these findings for age-related difficulties in interpreting social cues from the eyes are discussed.

Investigating the "deceiver stereotype": do older adults associate averted gaze with deception?

OBJECTIVES: Research indicates that the most commonly held belief about deception is that people avert their gaze when lying. The present study assessed adult age-related differences in both the association between averted gaze and judgments of deception and the strength of the "deceiver stereotype." METHOD: In Study 1, younger and older adult participants were required to decide if individuals displaying direct gaze or differing degrees of gaze aversion were lying or telling the truth. In Study 2, a group of younger and older adults were explicitly asked about their beliefs concerning how different behaviors related to deception. RESULTS: Findings revealed that, compared with younger participants, when asked to decide whether individuals were lying, older adults were less likely to associate direct gaze with honesty and averted gaze with deception. This effect was not due to age-related differences in the strength of the deceiver stereotype, as when explicitly asked, both younger and older participants associated averted gaze with lying. DISCUSSION: These findings provide further evidence of age-related differences in the ability to extract socially relevant information from the eye region, which might relate to changes in visual scanning of facial features with age.