Whether a face is categorized as male or female is influenced by the age of the face. In the present study, Event-Related Potential (ERP) measures were employed to offer insight into the neural correlates indexing the interaction between the age and sex of a face during sex categorization. Thirty-eight young adults (18 male) categorized the sex of young (18-29 years) and older (70-94 years) adult faces as ERP activity was recorded. Amplitude modulation for the P3b was observed in parietal regions. Younger female faces elicited more positive P3b amplitudes than older female faces, a difference that did not occur for male faces. Behavioral performance and P3b modulation also indicated these effects varied between male and female participants. Women responded more slowly and with less accuracy to older female faces compared to male and young female faces, a pattern of results mirrored by P3b latency. These findings indicate that later-occurring ERP components, such as the P3b, signal the intersection of multiple social categories during face processing suggesting that the evaluation of ingroup/outgroup membership related to age is enhanced for young women, but not for young men.

中文翻译：

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面部分类中与年龄和性别相关的事件相关的潜在调查：参与者的性别很重要。

脸部是男性还是女性都受其年龄的影响。在本研究中，采用了事件相关电位（ERP）措施来深入了解在性别分类过程中索引面部年龄与性别之间相互作用的神经相关因素。记录ERP行为时，有38位年轻人（18位男性）对年轻人（18-29岁）和年长者（70-94岁）的性别进行了分类。在顶区观察到了对P3b的振幅调制。年轻的女性面孔比年长的女性面孔引起更多的正P3b幅度，而男性面孔则没有这种差异。行为表现和P3b调节也表明，这些影响在男性和女性参与者之间有所不同。与男性和年轻女性面部相比，女性对老年女性面部的反应速度较慢，准确性较差，P3b潜伏期反映了这种结果。这些发现表明，较晚出现的ERP组件（例如P3b）表示面部处理过程中多个社交类别的交集，这表明年轻女性对与年龄相关的组内/组外成员资格的评估得到了增强，而年轻男性则没有。