Sex differences in face recognition--women's faces make the difference
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 29, 2026

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues
Published on: June 3, 2013
Catharina Lewin1, Agneta Herlitz
1Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm S-106 91, Sweden. catharina.lewin@psychology.su.se
Abstract:
Sex differences favoring women have been found in face recognition tasks as well as in verbal episodic memory tasks. Women's higher face recognition performance was hypothesized to be related to either their higher verbal ability or to their superiority in recognizing female faces, rather than faces in general. Results showed that whereas there were no differences between men and women in the recognition of male faces, or in verbal ability, women performed at a higher level than men in the recognition of female faces. Verbal ability did not influence women's face recognition performance. Potential explanations for this pattern of data, such as sex differences in interest and prior knowledge, are discussed.
Related Concept Videos
Prosopagnosia
Relationship Formation
Facial Feedback Hypothesis
Factors Influencing Attraction III: Similarity
Association Areas of the Cortex
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...
Factors Influencing Attraction II: Physical Attraction

