The "other-age" effect in age estimation of faces

In this study the occurrence of an “other-age” effect on age estimation was assessed. This effect consists in a more accurate estimation of own-age faces than other-age faces. Here, the age of participants (10 to 14 year old children and 20 to 30 year old adults) and the age of stimuli (faces of 10 to 14 year old children and faces of 20 to 30 year old adults) were crossed. Although we did not observe a crossed interaction where each age group would have been more accurate for in-group estimation than for out-group estimation, present results revealed the occurrence of an own-age bias in age estimation. Although both groups did not differ when estimating child faces, adults were more accurate than children when estimating the age of adult faces. Therefore, the present results showed an asymmetrical "other-age" effect. Several hypotheses explaining the present pattern of results are discussed.