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Facial aesthetics: babies prefer attractiveness to symmetry

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posted on 2023-06-07, 18:02 authored by CA Samuels, G Butterworth, T Roberts, Ludmila Graupner, Graham Hole
The 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

Perception

ISSN

03010066

Issue

7

Volume

23

Page range

823-831

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2016-03-22

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-10-31

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