Early aesthetic choices: Infant preferences for attractive premature infant faces

Duuren, Mike Van; Kendell-Scott, Linda; Stark, N.

doi:10.1080/01650250244000218

Cited by 37 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…This finding is consistent with a pattern in adults whereby attractive stimuli are viewed for a longer periods (40). A tendency to view attractive stimuli for longer is a generalized phenomenon that starts in infancy (41,42).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Penis size interacts with body shape and height to influence male attractiveness

Mautz

Wong

Peters

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Compelling evidence from many animal taxa indicates that male genitalia are often under postcopulatory sexual selection for characteristics that increase a male's relative fertilization success. There could, however, also be direct precopulatory female mate choice based on male genital traits. Before clothing, the nonretractable human penis would have been conspicuous to potential mates. This observation has generated suggestions that human penis size partly evolved because of female choice. Here we show, based upon female assessment of digitally projected life-size, computer-generated images, that penis size interacts with body shape and height to determine male sexual attractiveness. Positive linear selection was detected for penis size, but the marginal increase in attractiveness eventually declined with greater penis size (i.e., quadratic selection). Penis size had a stronger effect on attractiveness in taller men than in shorter men. There was a similar increase in the positive effect of penis size on attractiveness with a more masculine body shape (i.e., greater shoulder-to-hip ratio). Surprisingly, larger penis size and greater height had almost equivalent positive effects on male attractiveness. Our results support the hypothesis that female mate choice could have driven the evolution of larger penises in humans. More broadly, our results show that precopulatory sexual selection can play a role in the evolution of genital traits. genital evolution | multivariate attractiveness | multiple cues M ale genitalia show great variation among closely related species (1). This variation is typically attributed to copulatory and postcopulatory sexual selection to increase male fertilization success under sperm competition (2) or cryptic female choice (3). There might, however, also be premating sexual selection on male genitalia. Precopulatory processes can influence genital morphology (4, 5), but it is unknown whether these results are due to direct female choice or sexual conflict. In species where genitalia are externally visible, sexual selection might also act if females prefer males with specific genital morphology. Despite this potential effect, relatively little research has tested whether primary sexual characters influence male attractiveness (6-8).How female choice acts on any given male trait, and hence the strength and direction of selection, can be influenced by several, nonmutually exclusive factors. First, females use multiple cues during the mate choice process (9). Overall male attractiveness is unlikely to be determined by individual traits (e.g., refs. 10 and 11), so manipulating traits in isolation can lead to faulty conclusions about net male attractiveness (but see also ref. 12). Second, traits within individuals are phenotypically and genetically correlated. These relationships can influence evolution via correlational selection (13). Third, there might be a size contrast effect such that female assessment of attractiveness varies if the trait of interest is viewed differently in relation t...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Penis size interacts with body shape and height to influence male attractiveness

Mautz

Wong

Peters

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…All pictures showed a frontally oriented, neutrally expressive face on a white background; head size was matched across stimuli. Face stimuli came from public domain databases (Nefian et al 1997; Peer, 2003; Solina, Peer, Batagelj, Juvan, & Kovac, 2003; Van Duuren, Kendell-Scott, & Stark, 2003) or were images taken by a professional photographer and edited by a private graphics company (Fulvia Riccardi). To exclude any potential influence of attractiveness (Parsons et al, 2011; Yamamoto et al, 2009), pictures were selected within a larger database ( n = 96 with the same characteristics and sources) and were similarly rated by 40 adults (20 females, M age = 25.19, SD = 2.11; 20 males, M age = 27.88, SD = 3.56) on a 7-point Likert scale assessing attractiveness, t (1, 38) =.63, ns .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using infrared thermography to assess emotional responses to infants

Esposito

Nakazawa

Ogawa

et al. 2014

Early Child Development and Care

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Adult-infant interactions operate simultaneously across multiple domains and at multiple levels – from physiology to behavior. Unpackaging and understanding them, therefore, involves analysis of multiple data streams. In this study, we tested physiological responses and cognitive preferences for infant and adult faces in adult females and males. Infrared thermography was used to assess facial temperature changes as a measure of emotional valence, and we used a behavioral rating system to assess adults’ expressed preferences. We found greater physiological activation in response to infant stimuli in females than males. As for cognitive preferences, we found greater responses to adult stimuli than to infant stimuli, both in males and females. The results are discuss in light of the Life History Theory. Finally, we discuss the importance of integrating the two data streams on our conclusions.

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“…Equal numbers of cat and dog faces were used and their faces were also frontally oriented. Face stimuli came from public domain databases (Nefian et al 1997; Solina et al 2003), Van Duuren and colleagues (2003), or were publicly available images edited by a private graphics company (Tommaso Sega). To exclude potential influence of attractiveness on brain activity (Yamamoto et al 2009; Parsons et al 2011), pictures were selected within a larger database (n = 96 with the same characteristics and sources) and rated by 42 adults (19 males, M age = 32.00, SD = 4.25) on a 4-point Likert scale assessing attractiveness.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species-specific response to human infant faces in the premotor cortex

et al. 2012

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The human infant face represents an essential source of communicative signals on the basis of which adults modulate their interactions with infants. Behavioral studies demonstrate that infants faces activate sensitive and attuned responses in adults through their gaze, face expression, voice, and gesture. In this study we aimed to identify brain responses that underlie adults’ general propensity to respond to infant faces. We recorded fMRI during adults’ (non-parents) processing of unfamiliar infant faces compared to carefully matched adult faces and infrahuman mammal infant and adult faces. Human infant faces activated several brain systems including the lateral premotor cortex, supplementary motor area, cingulate cortex, anterior insula and the thalamus. Activation of these brain circuits suggests adults’ preparation for communicative behavior with infants as well as attachment and caregiving. The same brain regions preferentially responded to human infant faces when compared to animal infant faces, indicating species-specific adult brain responses. Moreover, results of support vector machine based classification analysis indicated that these regions allowed above chance-level prediction of brain state during perception of human infant faces. The complex of brain responses to human infant faces appear to include biological mechanisms that underlie responsiveness and a caring inclination toward young children which appear to transcend adult’s biological relationship to the baby.

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Early aesthetic choices: Infant preferences for attractive premature infant faces

Cited by 37 publications

References 38 publications

Penis size interacts with body shape and height to influence male attractiveness

Penis size interacts with body shape and height to influence male attractiveness

Using infrared thermography to assess emotional responses to infants

Species-specific response to human infant faces in the premotor cortex

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