Face perception across the adult lifespan: evidence for age-related changes independent of general intelligence

Figures & data

Figure 1. Relationships with age (by decile) for general intelligence (g), facial expression recognition ability (Face Exp), and facial identity recognition ability (Face ID).

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of facial expression recognition ability (Face Exp), facial identity recognition ability (Face ID), age, and general intelligence.

	Mean	SD	Min	Max	Skew	Kurtosis
Age	54.01	18.16	18	88	−.04	−1.12
Face Exp	87.43	9.83	26.09	95.65	−1.36	1.75
Face ID	85.07	8.50	49.17	100.00	−.36	−.50
General Intelligence	69.58	14.48	62.96	100.00	−.56	−.14

Table 2. Zero-order correlations between measures of facial expression recognition ability (Face Exp), facial identity recognition ability (Face ID), age, and general intelligence.

	Face ID	General Intelligence	Age
Face Exp	.39 (.22)	.52	−.44 (−.15)
Face ID		.42	-−46 (−.27)
General Intelligence			−.66

Note: Values in parentheses reflect correlations when controlling for general intelligence. All p < .001.

Table 3. Multiple regressions predicting facial expression recognition ability from age, sex, facial identity recognition ability (Face ID), and general intelligence.

Independent Variables	β	Sig
Age	−.10	.04
Sex	.14	<.001
Face ID	.18	<.001
General Intelligence	.39	<.001

Table 4. Multiple regressions predicting facial identity recognition ability from age, sex, facial expression recognition ability (Face Exp), and general intelligence.

Independent Variables	β	Sig
Age	−.29	<.001
Sex	.02	.63
Face Exp	.20	<.001
General Intelligence	.13	.01

Figure 2. Relationships of age with face expression (Face Exp) recognition residuals, showing the age decline of Face Exp when controlling for general intelligence.

Figure 3. Relationships of age with face identity (Face ID) recognition residuals, showing the age decline of Face ID when controlling for general intelligence.

Figure 4. Mediation model of age, general intelligence, and facial expression recognition ability.

Note: All standardised coefficients are significant at p < .001. The value in parentheses is the relationship between age and facial expression recognition before general intelligence was taken into account.

Figure 5. Mediation model of age, general intelligence, and facial identity recognition ability.

Note: All standardised coefficients are significant at p < .001. The value in parentheses is the relationship between age and facial identity recognition before general intelligence was taken into account.

Figure 6. Graphical representation of a model predicting facial emotion expression recognition ability from age, sex, facial identity recognition ability (Face ID), and general intelligence, with age also directly predicting anger recognition.

Table 5. Path loadings and significance levels of the six structural equation models, and their corresponding fit indices.

Emotion	Age -> Emotion Variable	Sig	Age -> Latent ERA	Sig	CFI	RMSEA
Anger	.07	.192	−.21	<.001	.95	.067
Disgust	.25	<.001	−.20	<.001	.96	.057
Fear	−.17	<.001	−.09	.112	.96	.062
Happiness	.13	.016	−.20	<.001	.95	.065
Sadness	.04	.451	−.20	<.001	.95	.068
Surprise	−.11	.032	−.17	.002	.95	.066

Note: ERA = Emotion Recognition Ability.

Data availability statement

Face perception across the adult lifespan: Evidence for age-related changes independent of general intelligence. The data analysed in this study were collected by the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN) (Shafto et al., 2014) and are available upon application from the original authors at www.cam-can.org.