Facial Shape Analysis Identifies Valid Cues to Aspects of Physiological Health in Caucasian, Asian, and African Populations

Frontiers in Psychology

Bernard P. Tiddeman²  Vinet Coetzee³  Ian D. Stephen⁵  David I. Perrett⁶  Vivian Hiew⁷ 

[1] ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia;Department of Computer Science, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom;Department of Genetics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa;Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia;Perception in Action Research Centre, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia;School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, United Kingdom;School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Semenyih, Malaysia;

关键词: face perception;    health perception;    geometric morphometrics;    evolutionary psychology;    facial appearance;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01883

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Facial cues contribute to attractiveness, including shape cues such as symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism. These cues may represent cues to objective aspects of physiological health, thereby conferring an evolutionary advantage to individuals who find them attractive. The link between facial cues and aspects of physiological health is therefore central to evolutionary explanations of attractiveness. Previously, studies linking facial cues to aspects of physiological health have been infrequent, have had mixed results, and have tended to focus on individual facial cues in isolation. Geometric morphometric methodology (GMM) allows a bottom–up approach to identifying shape correlates of aspects of physiological health. Here, we apply GMM to facial shape data, producing models that successfully predict aspects of physiological health in 272 Asian, African, and Caucasian faces – percentage body fat (21.0% of variance explained), body mass index (BMI; 31.9%) and blood pressure (BP; 21.3%). Models successfully predict percentage body fat and blood pressure even when controlling for BMI, suggesting that they are not simply measuring body size. Predicted values of BMI and BP, but not percentage body fat, correlate with health ratings. When asked to manipulate the shape of faces along the physiological health variable axes (as determined by the models), participants reduced predicted BMI, body fat and (marginally) BP, suggesting that facial shape provides a valid cue to aspects of physiological health.

【 授权许可】

Unknown