Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Background. The main question of the present research was born from the intersection between two issues: the relevant feature behind our sense of facial beauty and two kinds of information carried within different spatial frequency channels. Given its strong ability in communicating important information, facial beauty has gradually gained researchers attention. On the other side, given its importance in carrying significant information about the world we see, the spatial frequency of images –namely the different spatial bands– has been widely investigated in neuroscience. Objectives. Assumed that lower spatial frequencies carry information about the global feature of a picture, while higher spatial frequencies provide local characteristics, the present research aims at studying which band of the spatial frequency carries the most useful information when a judgement on beauty of two same-sex faces is required. Using eye tracking methods, the most relevant AOIs of faces are investigated in order to reveal which regions are the most attended when people evaluate someone else s beauty. Methods. Fifty participants performed a two-alternative forced choice task where they had to decide which between pairs of female and male same-sex faces they found more attractive in filtered and broadband conditions. Eye tracking data revealed which AOIs of the face are most attended during beauty judgements and pupil dilations were collected in order to measure real time effort. Results. Analyses of behavioral and eye tracking data revealed a difference between evaluations of attractiveness of female and male faces. Pupillometry data revealed a difference in pupil sizes in correspondence to each spatial frequency condition. Conclusion. Results revealed that neither very low nor very high spatial frequencies carry sufficiently useful information to perform judgements on faces beauty, compared to medium-level ones. Furthermore, both behavioral and eye tracking data show that people tend to evaluate differently female and male faces: it seems that while global information, carried by the lower spatial frequencies, is sufficient for evaluating a male face s beauty, local information provided by higher spatial frequencies are needed in order to perform effective judgements of a female face s attractiveness.
Author: Ilaria Schettino
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2515605022