Factors Influencing the Accuracy of Age Estimates of Unfamiliar Faces

Abstract

Abstract. Factors affecting the accuracy with which adults could assess the age of unfamiliar male faces aged between 5 and 70 years were examined. In the first experiment twenty-five 'young' adult subjects, aged 16-25, and twenty-five 'old' adults, aged 51-60, were used. Each subject saw five versions of three different faces: these consisted of an original version of each face and four manipulated versions of it. The manipulations consisted of mirror reversal, pseudo-cardioidal strain, thresholding, and elimination of all but the internal features of the face. The second experiment was similar except that a between-subjects design was used: each subject saw three faces for each age category of target face, but was exposed to only a single type of manipulation (plus a set of 'original' faces which were identical for all groups, so that the comparability of the different groups in age estimation could be checked).Results from both experiments were similar. Age estimates for unmanipulated 'original' faces were highly accurate, although subjects were most accurate with target faces that were within their own age range. Results for the manipulated faces implied that the importance of cardioidal strain as a necessary and sufficient cue to age may have been overestimated in previous reports: subjects' age estimates were accurate when cardioidal strain was absent from the stimulus, and poor when cardioidal strain was the only cue available.

Age Estimation from Faces and Voices: A Review

“…This decreasing of accuracy of age estimation with ageing is reported in numerous studies on face (e.g. : George & Hole, 1995) and voice (e.g. : Huntley et al, 1987;Moyse et al, 2014).…”

“…The literature of faces has shown that local (e.g., mouth, nose, eyes) and global features (e.g., skin texture, head shape) could have an impact on age estimation (Burt & Perrett, 1995;George & Hole, 1995, 1998. Different perceptual features of voices (e.g., pitch, quality, articulation, and rate of speech) have also been shown to be strong predictors of age perceived (Harnsberger, Shrivastav, Brown, Rothman, & Hollien, 2008;Hartman, 1979).…”

Age and Beauty are in the Eye of the Beholder

“…Studies involving stimulus manipulation and subjective reports have revealed that specific age-sensitive facial features including the eye region are important in judging facial qualities such as age (George and Hole 1995;Rexbye and Povlsen 2007;Valentine et al 2004). Facial stimulus manipulation, while important to research control, can result in distorted face images that introduce salience artifacts that may not accurately capture the natural perceptual processes associated with age and attractiveness.…”

A comparative assessment of one's own age from facial images of others: Two case studies for the Americans and the Japanese

“…Several studies on the perception and estimation of age have been carried out using facial images [4][5][6][7][8]. One of the topics addressed in such studies is the accuracy of age estimation.…”