The Role of Art Expertise and Symmetry on Facial Aesthetic Preferences

Symmetry

Givago Silva Souza¹  Amanda Carvalho da Silva²  Victória Elmira Ferreira do Nascimento³  Ana Catarina Miranda⁴  Rachel Coelho Ripardo⁴  Luis Carlos Pereira Monteiro⁵ 

[1] Center for Tropical Medicine, Federal University of Pará, Belém 66055-240, Brazil;Faculty of Biological Sciences, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém 66075-110, Brazil;Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém 66075-110, Brazil;Neuroscience and Behavior Graduate Program, Center for Behavioral Theory and Research, Federal University of Pará, Belém 66075-110, Brazil;Neuroscience and Cell Biology Graduate Program, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém 66075-110, Brazil;

关键词: symmetry;    aesthetics;    preference;    art experts;    human faces;   

DOI  :  10.3390/sym14020423

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Humans, like other species, have a preference for symmetrical visual stimuli, a preference that is influenced by factors such as age, sex, and artistic training. In particular, artistic training seems to decrease the rejection of asymmetry in abstract stimuli. However, it is not known whether the same trend would be observed in relation to concrete stimuli such as human faces. In this article, we investigated the role of expertise in visual arts, music, and dance, in the perceived beauty and attractiveness of human faces with different asymmetries. With this objective, the beauty and attractiveness of 100 photographs of faces with different degrees of asymmetry were evaluated by 116 participants with different levels of art expertise. Expertise in visual arts and dance was associated with the extent to which facial asymmetry influenced the beauty ratings assigned to the faces. The greater the art expertise in visual arts and dance, the more indifferent to facial asymmetry the participant was to evaluate beauty. The same effect was not found for music and neither for attractiveness ratings. These findings are important to help understand how face aesthetic evaluation is modified by artistic training and the difference between beauty and attractiveness evaluations.

【 授权许可】

Unknown