Cognitive and neural mechanisms of human gender processing

Abstract: Gender information is an important biological and social attribute of human beings. Rapid and accurate gender identification is of great significance to our survival and reproduction. Human gender processing is characterized by automation, stereotyping and asymmetry. It is influenced by gender processing subjects, other gender information, social category information, and higher-level cognitive regulation. Focusing on two main sources of gender information, namely faces and voices, research on the behavioral and neural mechanisms of gender processing were reviewed. In addition, a two-stage gender processing model was proposed, in which the early stage relates to a specific processing of the physical features aspect of gender information, and the later stage is a general processing of abstract gender information. Future research may focus on aspects of the systematic study of gender processing, gender classification and machine learning, and gender dimorphism, among others."