面孔吸引力的整体表征及其动态性增强

面孔作为一种高级的视觉刺激,在人际交往中有着无可替代的作用。其中,面孔吸引力更是影响着日常生活的重要社交决策,如择偶、交友、求职、社会交换等。长久以来,研究者们从面孔特征、社会信息和观察者因素等角度不断探索着人们对静态面孔吸引力的感知,且多从进化角度加以解释。但是,人们如何表征面孔吸引力以及其动态性增强机制仍未可知。本项目通过两个研究,分别从面孔吸引力的整体表征,以及面孔动态性通过影响整体加工、影响对整体信息和特征信息的注意、以及影响社会信息来增强吸引力,从这两个角度尝试回答这一问题。在研究1中,本项目从整体加工的角度探索了面孔吸引力的认知表征。研究1.1通过评分任务和适应范式探索高空间频率（更多局部特征）和低空间频率（更多整体特征）对面孔吸引力的影响,旨在从空间频率探讨面孔吸引力的整体表征。研究1.2通过操纵面孔对称性和面孔常态性探索面孔常态性在面孔对称性和面孔吸引力间的中介作用,探讨面孔吸引力的常态构型表征。研究1.3引入“三庭五眼”这一中国传统面孔审美理论,通过评分任务和适应范式研究“三庭五眼” 构型是否符合中国人对高吸引力中国面孔的表征,以此探讨面孔吸引力的整体表征。研究1.4通过评分任务和适应范式考察局部面孔遮挡是否促进整体面孔吸引力,以及这种促进作用是否由于人们通过局部特征“脑补”出了完整面孔。研究2从整体加工、注意和生命力的角度探讨面孔吸引力的动态性增强机制。研究2.1使用合成效应范式测量动态面孔吸引力的整体加工,探索动静态面孔的吸引力差异是否源于其整体加工程度的不同。研究2.2使用注意分散范式,并结合眼动技术,探讨人们对动静态面孔的注视模式是否存在差异,这种差异是否能解释动态面孔吸引力的增强。研究2.3结合问卷法、实验法和结构方程模型,考察了生命力这一社会因素对动静态面孔吸引力的影响。本项目探讨了面孔吸引力的认知表征以及其动态性增强机制,有助于我们进一步理解人们对面孔吸引力的认知加工以及人类欣赏美这一高级智能。同时,本项目的结果对于日常人际交往和面孔吸引力相关算法的优化等方面也有潜在的应用价值。     

Men's attraction to women's bodies changes seasonally

Humans exhibit seasonal variation in hormone levels, behaviour, and perception. Here we show that men's assessments of women's attractiveness change also seasonally. In five seasons (from winter 2004 to winter 2005) 114 heterosexual men were asked to assess the attractiveness of the same stimuli: photos of a female with three different waist-to-hip ratios; photos of female breasts, and photos of average-looking faces of young women. For each season, the scores given to the stimuli of the same category (body shape, breast, and face) were combined. Friedman's test revealed significant changes for body shape and breast attractiveness assessments across the seasons, but no changes for face ratings. The highest scores for attractiveness were given in winter and the lowest in summer. We suggest that the observed seasonality is related to the well-known 'contrast effect'. More frequent exposure to women's bodies in warmer seasons might increase men's attractiveness criteria for women's body shape and breasts.     

基于合成平均刺激的平均表征机制——来自平均面孔吸引力的证据

人类能够快速提取集合中的统计信息, 形成平均表征。对于平均表征的产生机制, 研究者提出整合集合成员以合成平均刺激, 或计算集合成员特征值的平均值两种观点。以往研究中合成的平均刺激的特征值和计算成员特征值的平均值两种方式的结果相似, 难以区分两种观点。由于多个面孔的吸引力评分的均值与用这些面孔合成的平均面孔的吸引力评分存在差异, 本研究使用经典的平均辨别任务(实验1和2)和吸引力评价任务(实验3和4)为平均表征的产生来源于合成平均刺激的观点提供了支持证据。4个实验分别采用大容量面孔集合和小容量面孔集合探讨平均表征的形成机制, 结果发现大、小集合都形成了平均刺激, 并且平均表征的评定和加工可能更多依赖合成的平均刺激, 而非简单的对成员特征值进行平均; 此外, 集合吸引力出现了高评现象, 但小集合高评现象更少出现, 说明平均刺激的作用受到集合大小的影响。本研究为集合平均表征的形成机制和面孔集合吸引力高评现象的产生机制提供了新证据。     

Monkeys perceive the orientation of objects relative to the vertical axis

Orientation processing is essential for segmenting contour from the background, which allows perception of the shape and stability of objects. However, little is known about how monkeys determine the degree and direction of orientation. In this study, to determine the reference axis for orientation perception in monkeys, post-discrimination generalization tests were conducted following discrimination training between the 67.5° and 112.5° orientations and between the 22.5° and 157.5° orientations. After discrimination training between the 67.5° and 112.5° orientations, the slope of the generalization gradient around the S⁺ orientation was broad, while the slope was steep after discrimination training between the 22.5° and 157.5° orientations. Comparing the shapes of the gradients indicated that the subjective distance between the 67.5° and 112.5° orientations was small, while the subjective distance between the 22.5° and 157.5° orientation was large. In other words, the monkeys recognized that the former and the latter distances were 45° and 135° across the vertical axis, rather than 135° and 45° across the horizontal axis, respectively. These findings indicate that the monkeys determined the degree and direction of the tilt using the vertical reference.     

Computer graphic studies of the role of facial similarity in judgements of attractiveness

Anecdotally, spouses are often said to resemble one another. This study investigates the effects of similarity between participants and stimuli on judgements of facial attractiveness: does “like prefer like”? Using computer graphic techniques, opposite sex facial stimuli were generated from subjects' photographs. Experiment 1 showed a correlation between attractiveness and similarity but the effect can be explained by the attractiveness of average faces. Beyond this, there was a trend for individual subjects to rate opposite sex images with a similar face shape to their own face as more attractive than other subjects. Experiment 2 allowed subjects to interactively manipulate an opposite sex facial image along a continuum from a self-similar shape, through an average face shape, to a face with opposite characteristics. No significant preferences for self-similar or opposite characteristics were found. Preferences for average faces are stronger than preferences for self-similar faces.     

Upright versus upside-down faces: How interface attractiveness varies with orientation

A choice experiment is reported in which all pairs and triples of faces from a set of eight moderately attractive faces were presented, both upright and upside down, to 103 subjects. In each orientation, the subjects had to select the face that appeared more (pairs) or most (triples) attractive to them. For each orientation, the preference probabilities that arose from the pair and triple comparisons could be described by the BTL rule (Luce, 1959). Thus, each face was represented by two scores, one reflecting its attractiveness in the upright orientation and the other reflecting its attractiveness in the inverted orientation. Orientation affected the preference probabilities. Qualitatively, score ratios between faces decreased from upright to inverted orientation, suggesting that the faces became less discriminable by inversion. Quantitatively, the effect of inversion could be described by a simple rule that assumes a face’s two attractiveness scores to be affinely related across orientations. This result indicates that inversion affected all faces about equally. The present findings are discussed with respect to faces’ first- and second-order relational properties, a distinction emphasized in current theories of face perception. They suggest that the processing of first- and secondorder relational properties is impaired by inversion to roughly the same degree.     

Computer graphic studies of the role of facial similarity in judgements of attractiveness

Anecdotally, spouses are often said to resemble one another. This study investigates the effects of similarity between participants and stimuli on judgements of facial attractiveness: does “like prefer like”? Using computer graphic techniques, opposite sex facial stimuli were generated from subjects' photographs. Experiment 1 showed a correlation between attractiveness and similarity but the effect can be explained by the attractiveness of average faces. Beyond this, there was a trend for individual subjects to rate opposite sex images with a similar face shape to their own face as more attractive than other subjects. Experiment 2 allowed subjects to interactively manipulate an opposite sex facial image along a continuum from a self-similar shape, through an average face shape, to a face with opposite characteristics. No significant preferences for self-similar or opposite characteristics were found. Preferences for average faces are stronger than preferences for self-similar faces.     

面孔吸引力同化的连续性效应

以往研究表明目标面孔的吸引力评价会偏向背景面孔, 产生同化效应。但同化效应的计算常常是对不同背景下目标面孔吸引力评分进行比较, 并没有考虑目标面孔单独呈现时的吸引力评分, 可能是虚假的同化效应。本文以单独呈现的目标面孔吸引力评分作为基准值计算同化效应, 考察了呈现时间和目标与背景面孔吸引力的差异对目标面孔吸引力评价的影响。结果发现, 个体对目标面孔吸引力的评分会偏向背景面孔的吸引力, 并表现出同化的连续性效应, 即目标和背景面孔的吸引力差异越大, 同化效应越小。     

诱导效应的影响机制——产品感知风险的调节作用

为了探究以往消费者受情境诱导的影响程度不同的原因,本研究从产品感知风险的角度阐述诱导效应的作用机制。用2×2的因子设计,检验产品感知风险和诱导情形对目标产品选择概率的交互作用。188名被试的实验结果显示高感知风险产品类型下诱导效应显著,而低感知风险产品类型下诱导效应不显著。进一步分析得出目标产品相对吸引力是诱导情形与目标产品选择概率的关系链中的中介变量,而产品的感知风险是有中介的调节变量的研究结论。     

Context effects on the perceived physical attractiveness of faces

Four experiments were conducted to study the nature of context effects on the perceived physical attractiveness of faces. In Experiment 1, photos of faces scaled on attractiveness were presented in sets of three, with target faces appearing in the middle flanked by two context faces. The target faces were of average attractiveness, with the context faces being either high, average, or low in attractiveness. The effect of the context was one of assimilation, rather than contrast, regardless of whether the persons in the photos were portrayed to be associated. This result was interpreted in terms of a “generalized halo effect” for judgments of the physical attractiveness of stimuli within a group. Presenting the persons of a set as friends enhanced the perceived attractiveness of the target face but only when the context did not contain a face of low attractiveness. In Experiment 2, the assimilation effect was observed to carry over to influence ratings of the target faces several minutes after the context faces had been removed. Experiment 3 showed the assimilation effect to be robust regardless of whether the context was composed of two faces or one, but Experiment 4 showed the assimilation effect to be evident only when the context faces were presented simultaneously with the target.     

Temporal shifts in eye gaze and facial expressions independently contribute to the perceived attractiveness of unfamiliar faces

ABSTRACT

We investigated whether attractiveness ratings of expressive faces would be affected by gaze shifts towards or away from the observer. In all experiments, effects of facial expression were found, with higher attractiveness ratings to positive over negative expressions, irrespective of effects of gaze-shifts. In the first experiment faces with gaze shifts away from the observer were preferred. However, when the dynamics of the gaze shift was disrupted, by adding an intermediate delay, the effect of direction of gaze shift disappeared. By manipulating the relative duration of each gaze direction during a gaze shift we found higher attractiveness ratings to faces with a longer duration of direct gaze, particularly in the initial exposure to a face. Our findings suggest that although the temporal dynamics of eye gaze and facial expressions influence the aesthetic evaluation of faces, these cues appear to act independently rather than in an integrated manner for social perception.     

Typicality and face recognition: A critical re-evaluation of the two factor theory

Vokey and Read (1992) proposed that the effect of typicality on face recognition was a function of familiarity and rated memorability, reporting that typicality loaded equally on components that they identified with these variables. We offer an alternative interpretation to that of Vokey and Read in terms of the relationship between typicality and attractiveness (when the former is measured as a deviation from the typical face), the mere exposure effect, and the metamemorial beliefs of participants. In our study we identified distinctiveness , attractiveness , and residual memory components. Supporting our interpretation, three of our four measures of typicality failed to load with familiarity on the attractiveness component. Only our measure of deviation from the typical face replicated Vokey and Read's results because of its correlation with attractiveness.     

Face likeability mediates the memory-enhancing effect of face attractiveness in young but not older adults

Evidence of effects of face attractiveness on memory is mixed and little is known about the underlying mechanisms of this relationship. Previous work suggests a possible mediating role of affective responding to faces (i.e., face likeability) on the relationship between face attractiveness and memory. Age-related change in social motivation may reduce the relevance of face attractiveness in older adults, with downstream effects on memory. In the present study, 50 young and 51 older participants were presented with face-trait pairs. Faces varied in attractiveness. Participants then completed a face-trait associative recognition memory task and provided likeability ratings for each face. There was a memory-enhancing effect of face attractiveness in young (but not older) participants, which was partially mediated by face likeability. In addition, more attractive and less attractive (compared to moderately attractive) faces were more likely remembered by both young and older participants. This quadratic effect of face attractiveness on memory was not mediated by face likeability. Findings are discussed in the context of motivational influences on memory that vary with age.     

面孔吸引力、人格标签对于男女择偶偏好的影响

通过对征婚启事、婚姻统计资料等的分析发现相貌、身材对于男性择偶重要, 能力、资源和个性等对于女性择偶重要。本研究运用实验法进一步探讨了面孔吸引力、人格标签及其交互对于大学生理想择偶偏好的影响。研究结果表明：(1)对于漂亮异性, 男性与其成为情侣的意愿显著高于女性; 而对于不漂亮的异性, 男性与其成为情侣的意愿明显低于女性。(2)对于积极词汇标签下的异性, 女性与其成为情侣的意愿显著高于男性; 而对于消极词汇标签下的异性, 女性与其成为情侣的意愿显著低于男性。(3)与消极词汇标签比较, 积极词汇标签使被试更愿意与其成为情侣, 但这种意愿的提高在相对漂亮的面孔上表现得更加明显。(4)大五人格的五个维度对择偶意愿都有影响, 影响力依次为尽责性、随和性、开放性、情绪稳定性和外倾性。女性更喜欢外向的男性, 但女性是否外向对男性择偶无影响。研究结果为理解择偶行为的性别差异提供了实验性证据。     

Dissociation of facial attractiveness and distinctiveness processing in congenital prosopagnosia

According to the influential model of Bruce and Young (1986) socially relevant facial information is processed separately from facial information leading to individual face recognition. In recent years functional imaging has identified a network of distinct occipitotemporal cortex areas for the processing of these two kinds of information. Functionally it is not clear at which processing level the “social” and the “recognition” pathways diverge. The study of subjects with a profound face recognition and learning deficit (congenital prosopagnosia—cPA) promises for a better understanding of this issue. We therefore tested the perception of attractiveness (a cue of prime social importance) and distinctiveness (a facial feature related to recognition) in 14 people with cPA. Although attractiveness ratings were highly consistent with controls, cPA subjects' distinctiveness ratings showed random patterns. This dissociation of normal attractiveness processing and impaired distinctiveness processing in cPA helps to specifies the nature of the impairment in this condition while shedding light on the functional architecture of normal face processing.     

Integrating social knowledge and physical cues when judging the attractiveness of potential mates

Although many women find masculine men physically attractive, the perception that such men are prone to infidelity may limit their appeal as romantic partners. To explore this issue, we first investigated the interplay between the effects of men's face shape (masculinity versus femininity) and social knowledge of men's behavior in previous romantic relationships (faithful versus unfaithful) on women's judgments of men's attractiveness. Analyses suggested that the extent to which women rated masculine men to be more attractive than feminine men was significantly greater when judging men labeled as faithful than when judging men labeled as unfaithful. In a second experiment, we obtained similar results when the women in our study were instructed to imagine they were on a date with each of the men and that, while on the date, they observed him either flirting or not flirting with another woman. These interactions suggest that social knowledge about men's behavior in romantic relationships can offset one of the costs that women associate with choosing a masculine mate, increasing the appeal of masculine men. More fundamentally, these findings suggest integration of social knowledge and information from facial cues in women's attractiveness judgments.     

I know you are beautiful even without looking at you: discrimination of facial beauty in peripheral vision

Earlier research suggests that facial attractiveness may capture attention at parafovea. However, little is known about how well facial beauty can be detected at parafoveal and peripheral vision. Participants in this study judged relative attractiveness of a face pair presented simultaneously at several eccentricities from the central fixation. The results show that beauty is not only detectable at parafovea but also at periphery. The discrimination performance at parafovea was indistinguishable from the performance around the fovea. Moreover, performance was well above chance even at the periphery. The results show that the visual system is able to use the low-spatial-frequency information to appraise attractiveness. These findings not only provide an explanation why a beautiful face could capture attention when central vision is already engaged elsewhere, but also reveal the potential means by which a crowd of faces is quickly scanned for attractiveness.     

The face‐mind link: Why we see minds behind faces,and how others' minds change how we see their face

Understanding others' minds has puzzled philosophers for centuries. Psychologists, too, have recently begun asking questions about what causes us to see another person as having complex or simple mental faculties. Here, we review recent evidence linking how we perceive others' faces with how we perceive others' minds—the face‐mind link. We first discuss research demonstrating a face‐to‐mind effect, showing that both certain facial features (e.g., eyes) and face perception processes (e.g., configural processing) can trigger the perception that a face has a mind. We then discuss recent evidence demonstrating a mind‐to‐face effect, showing that believing a person is inhumane (i.e., their mind) leads their face to be processed less like a face and more like an object. Finally, we consider both the consequences of this bidirectional face‐mind link, and what the next steps may be in understanding how and why we infer minds from faces, and how and why beliefs about others' minds affects how we see their face.     

男性化与女性化对面孔偏好的影响—— 基于图像处理技术和眼动的检验

采用图像处理技术和眼动探讨了性别二态线索对面孔偏好的影响。实验1发现非面孔线索未掩蔽和掩蔽时, 感知男性化技术与原始照片条件下女性化的男性面孔更有吸引力和信任度; 性别二态技术条件下, 非面孔线索未掩蔽时男性化的男性面孔更有吸引力和信任度。实验2表明被试对男性面孔的平均瞳孔大小和注视次数均大于和多于女性面孔, 首次注视时间短于女性面孔; 被试对男性化面孔的首次注视时间和首次注视持续时间均长于女性化面孔。