Demographic variation in how the social brain processes news messages.

Publisher: Cambridge University Press Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 8800535 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1471-5457 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 07309384 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Politics Life Sci Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press
Original Publication: DeKalb, Ill. : The Association, [c1982]-

Cognition* ; Mass Media* ; Mental Recall*; Adult ; Educational Status ; Facial Recognition ; Female ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Sex Factors

A high capacity for visual perception distinguishes Homo sapiens from other primates. This human ability to detect social cues and retain visual records of social networks has been tested mostly with static facial images in laboratory settings. However, media consumption has become closely entangled with the way social life is navigated. Therefore, the study reported here tested demographic differences (gender and education) in visual information processing of social and nonsocial objects featured in audiovisual news content. Women recognized (accuracy) and recalled (salience) social images better than men. On the other hand, men were more skilled at recognizing, but not recalling, nonsocial images. Participants with lower educational levels recognized and recalled fewer images than individuals with higher educational levels. Interactions between demographic variables and time suggest that memory records for social images are more stable than those for nonsocial images. Memory may have survival-relevant importance, serving navigational functions that vary across environmental demands, resulting in differences across demographic groups.

Keywords: Gender; cued recall; education; facial recognition; media; social perception

Date Created: 20160706 Date Completed: 20170403 Latest Revision: 20191113

20240628

10.1017/pls.2016.3

27378023