First impressions on face trustworthiness across ages: Evidence from a cross-sectional study.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Computer Science (Human-Computer Interaction)

Background:

• Facial trustworthiness perception is crucial for social interactions.
• Age and gender are known demographic factors influencing social judgments.
• Understanding these influences is vital for AI development and human-computer interaction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of age and gender on the perception of facial trustworthiness.
• To examine how face orientation (upright vs. inverted) affects trustworthiness judgments.
• To analyze the interplay between age, gender, and stimulus characteristics in trustworthiness evaluation.

Main Methods:

• Participants judged the trustworthiness of computer-generated faces.
• Stimuli included trustworthy, untrustworthy, and neutral faces presented briefly.
• Two conditions: canonical (upright) and inverted (upside down) face orientations.

Main Results:

• Trustworthiness judgments were significantly modulated by participant age and gender.
• Younger participants rated faces as more trustworthy compared to adults, elderly, and children.
• Males generally rated faces as more trustworthy than females, except in child participants.

Conclusions:

• Age and gender are significant moderators of facial trustworthiness perception.
• Developmental and sex-based differences exist in evaluating trustworthiness, particularly with upright faces.
• Findings have implications for AI-driven social agents and understanding human social cognition.