title: Attractiveness of natural faces compared to computer constructed perfectly symmetrical faces.
abstract: Attractiveness of natural faces was compared to perfectly symmetrical faces constructed on the computer from digitized photographs, in order to assess the role of left-right symmetry in beauty assessment. Three different groups of participants viewed separate series of sequentially presented faces (natural faces, left-left, and right-right) and provided attractiveness ratings on a 5-point Likert scale. The results revealed statistically significant lower ratings for the computer constructed left-left and right-right compared to the natural faces. The discussion is in the context of a biological trend away from perfect symmetry in primates consequent to adaptive evolutionary alteration favoring functional asymmetry in the brain, perception, and face.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095-1563, USA. dahliaz@ucla.edu
authors: Dahlia W
authors: DW
authors: Zaidel
authors: Choi
authors: C
authors: Deblieck
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001504:Beauty; D003201:Computers; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods