Scientists
at the University of Liverpool have discovered that people
favour familiar-looking faces when choosing a potential partner.
The research team found that people find familiar faces more attractive
than unfamiliar ones.
They also found that the human brain holds separate
images of both male and female faces and reacts to them differently depending
on how familiar it is with their facial features.
Dr Anthony Little, from the University’s School of Biological
Sciences, examined whether early visual experience of male and female
faces affected later preferences. The research team asked over 200 participants
to view a number of human faces that had been digitally manipulated to
change their facial characteristics.
Dr Little said:
“ We found that participants preferred the face
that they were most visually familiar with. In one of the tests we showed
participants a block of faces with wide-spaced eyes and then asked them
to compare these with a face that had narrow-spaced eyes. We found that
participants preferred the face with wide-spaced eyes, suggesting that
the brain connects familiarity with attraction.”
The team also asked participants to judge the same preferred facial
features in those of the opposite sex. Participants who were shown male
faces with wide-spaced eyes preferred this trait in subsequent male faces
but not in female faces.
Dr Little explains:
“ The research revealed that the sex of the
face can be a deciding factor in facial preference. The tests showed
for the first time that the brain holds separate visual patterns of male
and female faces and responds to them based on their sex as well as their
familiarity. We will continue to investigate why this is the case.
_ The
next step in the research is to find out why the brain makes a link between
familiarity and attractiveness. It maybe that visual experience
of particular facial features suggests that a person is ‘safe’ or
more ‘approachable’, both of which are desirable traits.”
Dr Little’s research, in collaboration with University of St Andrews
and University of Aberdeen, will be published by Proceedings of The Royal
Society – Biological Sciences this week.
News is included on this website to
inform visitors about current health issues, but not to endorse
any particular view or activity. Material in this news item
was first published by Liverpool University (England, UK) on
31st August 2005.
For further information, please visit their website
using the link below.
Members of the public are invited
to take part in the on-line facial attractiveness study at: www.alittlelab.com |
