Attentional Differences Between Males and Females for Emojis During the Emotional Stroop Task

Introduction Cognitive load can be intensified by emotional components such as emotive words or facial expressions. Sex differences influence both emotional and cognitive functions for emotional facial expressions. Emojis, in contrast to human faces, serve as digital cues conveying emotional nuances in communication. The present study aimed to compare attentional differences prompted by emojis. Methods This study aimed to compare attentional differences in males and females elicited by emojis in 100 healthy adults (50 males and 50 females) within the age group of 18 to 40 years (mean ± SD: 27.87 ± 5.37 years) while performing the emotional Stroop task (EST). The EST comprised emojis depicting four emotions (happy, fear, sad, and angry) and emotionally charged words conveying similar emotions. An independent sample t-test was used to compare the reaction times among males and females. Results Results showed males had significantly longer reaction times than females across all task conditions. Both genders exhibited significant differences in reaction times across task conditions, except inhibition. Overall, reaction times increased notably from neutral to incongruent conditions for both genders. This suggests that response times increased significantly from neutral to incongruent conditions. Conclusion Emojis introduced in the EST revealed gender-related differences in attentional processing. This study showed the greater proficiency of females in emotional processing during EST compared to males. These findings contribute to our understanding of how gender is associated with cognitive responses to emotional stimuli in digital communication contexts.