Facial feature variation: Anthropometric data II

Abstract

Facial feature variability as a function of age and gender was explored by using published anthropometric data (adopted by Goldstein, 1979) collected from several samples of faces of three racial groups. In addition, feature variability was compared to feature importance in face identification. Gender differences in variability were small except for Japanese women’s faces, which displayed more variability than other samples in survey. Infants’ faces might be more variable than adults’ faces, but measurement problems cloud the issue. Whether feature variability is related to feature saliency is still unknown because essential information is still missing. © 1979, The Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.