Decoding Emotions: The Role of Age and Gender in Recognition Accuracy

Emotion recognition is a complex cognitive process necessary for successful social interaction and communication. The age and the gender of the person who is decoding emotions are two variables that can impact the recognition process, as well as the gender of the face expressing the emotion. To test the effects of these factors, the present study involved a total of 162 differently aged participants (young, adults, and middle aged) which were presented with 54 video clips depicting female and male actors expressing various emotions, including happiness, sadness, anger, fear, irony, and surprise. Results revealed that young participants were better at recognizing happiness, irony, surprise, and fear compared to older age groups. Moreover, female faces were recognized more accurately across all emotions, emphasizing the significant role of the gender in perceiving and responding to emotional cues. The study highlights the importance of understanding how emotion processing changes throughout our lifespan and how gender-based biases can affect our social interactions.