title: Testosterone-mediated sex differences in the face shape during adolescence: subjective impressions and objective features.
abstract: Sex identification of a face is essential for social cognition. Still, perceptual cues indicating the sex of a face, and mechanisms underlying their development, remain poorly understood. Previously, our group described objective age- and sex-related differences in faces of healthy male and female adolescents (12-18 years of age), as derived from magnetic resonance images (MRIs) of the adolescents' heads. In this study, we presented these adolescent faces to 60 female raters to determine which facial features most reliably predicted subjective sex identification. Identification accuracy correlated highly with specific MRI-derived facial features (e.g. broader forehead, chin, jaw, and nose). Facial features that most reliably cued male identity were associated with plasma levels of testosterone (above and beyond age). Perceptible sex differences in face shape are thus associated with specific facial features whose emergence may be, in part, driven by testosterone.
authors: Rotman Research Institute, University of Toronto, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6A 2E1. klara.mareckova@gmail.com
authors: Klára
authors: K
authors: Marečková
authors: Zohar
authors: Z
authors: Weinbrand
authors: M Mallar
authors: MM
authors: Chakravarty
authors: Claire
authors: C
authors: Lawrence
authors: Rosanne
authors: R
authors: Aleong
authors: Gabriel
authors: G
authors: Leonard
authors: Michel
authors: M
authors: Perron
authors: G Bruce
authors: GB
authors: Pike
authors: Louis
authors: L
authors: Richer
authors: Suzanne
authors: S
authors: Veillette
authors: Zdenka
authors: Z
authors: Pausova
authors: Tomáš
authors: T
authors: Paus
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003463:Cues; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood*; D014796:Visual Perception
chemical_list: D013739:Testosterone