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Facial aesthetics: babies prefer attractiveness to symmetry
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 18:02 authored by CA Samuels, G Butterworth, T Roberts, Ludmila Graupner, Graham HoleThe visual preferences of human infants for faces that varied in their attractiveness and in their symmetry about the midline were explored. The aim was to establish whether infants' visual preference for attractive faces may be mediated by the vertical symmetry of the face. Chimeric faces, made from photographs of attractive and unattractive female faces, were produced by computer graphics. Babies looked longer at normal and at chimeric attractive faces than at normal and at chimeric unattractive faces. There were no developmental differences between the younger and older infants: all preferred to look at the attractive faces. Infants as young as 4 months showed similarity with adults in the 'aesthetic perception' of attractiveness and this preference was not based on the vertical symmetry of the face.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
PerceptionISSN
03010066Issue
7Volume
23Page range
823-831Department affiliated with
- Psychology Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes