Evidence for an Own-Age Bias in Face Recognition.

The current study examined whether an own-age bias exists in face recognition in adults of various ages. In Experiment 1, younger, middle-aged, and older participants studied photographs of younger, middle-aged, and older adults and were administered a face recognition test. Results showed that adults from each group were more likely to recognize own-age faces compared to other-age faces. Experiment 2 verified this finding with a longer retention interval and a different encoding task. Experiment 2 also demonstrated that the own-age bias is accentuated when subjective ratings of age are taken into account. Results are discussed in terms of current theories of own-race bias and have implications for eyewitness memory. While researchers have studied age differences in eyewitness memory and face identification extensively, most of these studies have shown that older adults exhibit poorer performance on tests of face recognition than do younger adults (e.g., Adams-Price, 1992; Fulton & Bartlett, 1991; List, 1986; Searcy, Bartlett, & Memon, 2000; Searcy, Bartlett, Memon, & Swanson, 2001). However, this difference may in part result from the stimuli typically used in face recognition studies. Specifically, the majority of studies have tested college-aged participants who were asked to remember the faces of similar-aged targets. Studies evaluating older adults also typically present photographs of college-aged individuals (Wright & Stroud, 2002). Thus, much of the prior work on age differences in face recognition has ignored whether participants demonstrated superior recognition of faces from their own age group (i.e., an own-age bias). However, several investigators have examined this issue by manipulating the age of photographed individuals studied by participants (e.g., Backman, 1991; Bartlett & Leslie, 1986; Fulton & Bartlett, 1991; List, 1986; Mason, 1986; Perfect & Harris, 2003; Wright & Stroud, 2002; Yarmey, 1993; see Perfect & Moon, 2005, for a review). For example, List (1986) presented fifth graders, college students, and older adults (65-70 year olds) videotapes depicting an individual shoplifting. The videotapes portrayed either a college-aged or middle-aged woman as the shoplifter. Results showed that, overall, older adults were as accurate as younger participants but demonstrated poorer memory performance for information concerning the younger actress. Although List (1986) provided a significant starting point, findings from the study cannot be treated as conclusive with regard to the own-age bias for several reasons. First, participants were not required to explicitly identify the perpetrator but instead were responsible for details concerning the crime and personal characteristics of the shoplifter. Secondly, fifth graders, young adults, and older adults were tested, but the videos depicted a young adult and a middle-aged shoplifter. A design testing participants with photographs of own-aged and different-aged individuals is better suited for investigating potential own-age biases. The current study will utilize such a design. Wright and Stroud (2002) investigated the own-age bias using younger (18-25 year olds) and middle-aged (35-55 year olds) men. Participants viewed four videotapes depicting either a car or television being stolen by a 21, 23, 48, or 51 year old male perpetrator. A second, similar experiment tested 18-33 year old and 40-55 year old men. Across both experiments results showed that younger participants were more likely to correctly identify the perpetrator in a line-up when the culprit was also young. In addition, middle-aged participants showed a trend for greater accuracy when the perpetrator was also middle-aged, although this finding was not statistically reliable. Thus, these data tentatively suggest that an own-age bias exists for younger witnesses. Fulton and Bartlett (1991) and Bartlett and Leslie (1986) provided additional studies investigating the own-age bias. …