Abstract:

Objective To investigate the difference in the recognition speed while subjects of the different gender viewed Chinese names(male, female and neutral) under separated, mixed, and reversed conditions, and further study the “opposites attraction” in the recognition of different gender names.
Methods Forty healthy adults(20 male and 20 female, age: 20~24 years) were enrolled in this study. The visual Chinese test stimuli consisted of male names, female names, and neutral names(50 trials each), respectively under separated, mixed, and updown conditions. The visual presentation and reaction time of the behavior task were quantified with the eevoke software.
Results Comparison of the 3 name stimuli: fastest to female name〔(750.94±104.53)ms〕, next to male name〔(879.07ms±126.44)ms〕, and slowest to neutral name〔(1109.36±158.98) ms〕. Post-hoc t-tests of these 3 name classes also exhibited significant differences among them in R.T.(all at P<0.001 level). Between male subjects and female subjects under three conditions〔name separated: F(1,19)=0.059, P=0.811; name mixed: F(1,19)=0.139, P=0.713; name reversed: F(1,19)=3.592, P=0.073〕, the reaction time on the three types of name had no significant difference.
Conclusion Female name elicits fastest R.T. than male name, and the slowest for neutral name. No “oppositesex attraction” affect in name recognition. Gender of subjects makes no difference in the reaction speed of name classes. Apparently, the stimulus conditions affect the cognitive speed, but they did not change the discipline that reaction speeds of female names are fastest and neutral names are slowest.

Key words: reaction time, gender, name types, opposite-sex attraction, study conditions