Understanding gender bias in face recognition: Effects of divided attention at encoding Matthew A. Palmer ⁎, Neil Brewer, Ruth Horry Flinders University, Australia abstract article info Article history: Received 20 August 2011 Received in revised form 10 January 2013 Accepted 15 January 2013 Available online 17 February 2013 PsycINFO classification: 2343 2346 3040 Keywords: Divided attention Eyewitness identification Face recognition Own-gender bias Recollection Remember–know judgments Prior research has demonstrated a female own-gender bias in face recognition, with females better at recogniz- ing female faces than male faces. We explored the basis for this effect by examining the effect of divided attention during encoding on females' and males' recognition of female and male faces. For female participants, divided at- tention impaired recognition performance for female faces to a greater extent than male faces in a face recogni- tion paradigm (Study 1; N =113) and an eyewitness identification paradigm (Study 2; N =502). Analysis of remember–know judgments (Study 2) indicated that divided attention at encoding selectively reduced female participants' recollection of female faces at test. For male participants, divided attention selectively reduced rec- ognition performance (and recollection) for male stimuli in Study 2, but had similar effects on recognition of male and female faces in Study 1. Overall, the results suggest that attention at encoding contributes to the female own-gender bias by facilitating the later recollection of female faces. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction A substantial literature demonstrates own group biases in recognition memory tasks. For example, people are better at recognizing faces of their own race versus another race (i.e., the own-race bias; e.g., Hugenberg, Young, Bernstein, & Sacco, 2010; Malpass & Kravitz, 1969; Meissner & Brigham, 2001; Sporer, 2001), and their own age versus older or younger faces (i.e., the own-age bias; e.g., Anastasi & Rhodes, 2005; Perfect & Harris, 2003; Wright & Stroud, 2002). One variation of own group bias that has received relatively little attention is the own-gender bias. Prior re- search points to an asymmetry in the own-gender bias. Although female participants have been consistently found to be better at recognizing fe- male faces than male faces (e.g., Cross, Cross, & Daly, 1971; Lewin & Herlitz, 2002; Rehnman & Herlitz, 2006, 2007; Wright & Sladden, 2003), the results for male participants vary. Two studies have found that male participants better recognized male faces than female faces (Ellis, Shepherd, & Bruce, 1973; Wright & Sladden, 2003), but other stud- ies have found that males recognized female faces better than male faces (Feinman & Entwisle, 1976; McKelvie, Standing, St. Jean, & Law, 1993; Rehnman & Herlitz, 2007), or that males recognized male and female faces equally well (Cross et al., 1971; Going & Read, 1974; Lewin & Herlitz, 2002; Rehnman & Herlitz, 2006). 1.1. The role of attention in the female own-gender bias We investigated one factor that might contribute to these patterns of own-gender bias in face recognition: attention during encoding. Most theoretical models of own-group biases in face recognition focus on pro- cesses that occur during encoding, rather than storage or retrieval (for reviews, see Hugenberg et al., 2010; Meissner & Brigham, 2001; Sporer, 2001). Further, there is empirical evidence that own-group biases rely on encoding factors (e.g., Goldinger, He, & Papesh, 2009; Van Bavel, Packer, & Cunningham, 2008; Young, Bernstein, & Hugenberg, 2010). One idea central to several models (Hugenberg et al., 2010; Levin, 2000; Rodin, 1987; Sporer, 2001) is that people selectively attend to own-group faces at encoding. Although this idea has been discussed most often in the context of the own-race bias, some researchers have suggested that the female own-gender bias may arise because females pay more attention to female faces than to male faces (Cross et al., 1971; Ellis et al., 1973; Herlitz & Rehnman, 2008; McKelvie, 1981; Rehnman & Herlitz, 2006, 2007). Why might females but not males attend more to faces of their own gender? Two types of explanations have been offered. The first is a developmental one, and rests on the notion that females and Acta Psychologica 142 (2013) 362–369 ⁎ Corresponding author at: School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Locked Bag 1342 Launceston, Tasmania, Australia 7250. Tel.: +61 3 6324 3004; fax: +61 3 6324 3168. E-mail address: matthew.palmer@utas.edu.au (M.A. Palmer). 0001-6918/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2013.01.009 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Acta Psychologica journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/ locate/actpsy