Lateral feature displacement and perceived facial attractiveness

Pairs of vertically adjacent facial features were laterally displaced in the same or opposite direction. Undergraduates rated the resulting images on attractiveness. Displacements were first made on normal faces. Symmetric faces were not rated more attractive than normal controls. Faces with two alternating adjacent pairs were rated lower than faces with one or no alternating pairs. In Exp. 2, the same displacements were made from symmetrical faces to control for distance. Symmetric faces again were not rated higher than normal ones, and both conditions were considered more attractive than faces with any type of displacement. This latter result suggests a greater sensitivity to feature displacement when performed from symmetry.