Different colour predictions of facial preference by Caucasian and Chinese observers

Sexual Dimorphism: The Interrelation of Shape and Color

Sex-typicality displayed as sexual dimorphism of the human face is a key feature enabling sex recognition. It is also believed to be a cue for perceiving biological quality and it plays an important role in the perception of attractiveness. Sexual dimorphism of human faces has two main components: sexual shape dimorphism of various facial features and sexual color dimorphism, generally manifested as dimorphism of skin luminance, where men tend to be darker than women. However, very little is known about the mutual relationship of these two facets. We explored the interconnection between the dimorphism of face shape and dimorphism of face color in three visually distinct populations (Cameroonian, Czech, and Vietnamese). Our results indicated that populations which showed a significant dimorphism in skin luminance (Cameroon, Vietnam) had low levels of sexual shape dimorphism, while a population with higher levels of sexual shape dimorphism (Czech Republic) did not exhibit a significant dimorphism of skin luminance. These findings suggest a possible compensatory mechanism between various domains of sexual dimorphism in populations differing in the levels of shape and color dimorphism.

Facial Skin Aging Characteristics of the Old-Perceived Age in a 20-40 Years Old Chinese Female Population

Purpose

In the quest for a youthful appearance, women use a variety of anti- aging cosmetics. Defining skin problems is especially important for the selection of anti-aging solutions. However, the skin problems faced by Chinese women at different ages are different. This study aimed at Chinese women aged 20-40 years old and analyzed facial skin aging characteristics of those with old-perceived age.

Patients and Methods

The total of 400 standard facial photographs from Chinese female volunteers aged 20-40 was assessed by another 126 Chinese women. The facial areas and skin aging characteristics that influenced age estimation were collected at the same time. Skin aging characteristics, including wrinkles, skin tone, pigmentation and pores, were analyzed based on facial photographs. Groupings were made based on deviation of perceived age from chronological age, and skin aging characteristics among groups were compared.

Results

The perceived age of Chinese women aged 20-40 has a moderate correlation with chronological age. Women aged 20-30 generally had an old-perceived age. Deep skin tone was a prominent problem in this age group, with those who had the older-perceived age observed the darker and redder skin tone. Women aged 31-40 were perceived partly old but appeared with wrinkle aggravation, as well as deepening of redness, enlarged pores, and increased pigmentation at the mid-face. The perceived older women also had more visible frown lines and darker skin tone at the upper face.

Conclusion

The perceived age of Chinese women aged 20-40 tends to deviate from their chronological age. Women aged 20-30 with old-perceived age are associated with deep skin tone, even found darker and redder in older-perceived women group, while women aged 31-40 are associated with wrinkles and deterioration at mid-face area and upper-face problems drive more attention in older-perceived women group.

Cross-cultural perception of strength, attractiveness, aggressiveness and helpfulness of Maasai male faces calibrated to handgrip strength

Previous research has demonstrated that Maasai and Europeans tend to align in their ratings of the physical strength and aggressiveness of Maasai male faces, calibrated to hand grip strength (HGS). However, perceptions of attractiveness of these faces differed among populations. In this study, three morphs of young Maasai men created by means of geometric morphometrics, and depicting the average sample and two extrema (± 4 SD of HGS), were assessed by men and women from Tanzania, Czech Republic, Russia, Pakistan, China, and Mexico (total sample = 1540). The aim of this study was to test cross-cultural differences in the perception of young Maasai men's composites calibrated to HGS, focusing on four traits: physical strength, attractiveness, aggressiveness, and helpfulness. Individuals from all six cultures were able to distinguish between low, medium, and high HGS portraits. Across all study populations, portrait of Maasai men with lower HGS was perceived as less attractive, more aggressive, and less helpful. This suggests that people from diverse populations share similar perceptions of physical strength based on facial shape, as well as attribute similar social qualities like aggressiveness and helpfulness to these facial images. Participants from all samples rated the composite image of weak Maasai men as the least attractive.

Predicting Facial Attractiveness from Colour Cues: A New Analytic Framework

Various facial colour cues were identified as valid predictors of facial attractiveness, yet the conventional univariate approach has simplified the complex nature of attractiveness judgement for real human faces. Predicting attractiveness from colour cues is difficult due to the high number of candidate variables and their inherent correlations. Using datasets from Chinese subjects, this study proposed a novel analytic framework for modelling attractiveness from various colour characteristics. One hundred images of real human faces were used in experiments and an extensive set of 65 colour features were extracted. Two separate attractiveness evaluation sets of data were collected through psychophysical experiments in the UK and China as training and testing datasets, respectively. Eight multivariate regression strategies were compared for their predictive accuracy and simplicity. The proposed methodology achieved a comprehensive assessment of diverse facial colour features and their role in attractiveness judgements of real faces; improved the predictive accuracy (the best-fit model achieved an out-of-sample accuracy of 0.66 on a 7-point scale) and significantly mitigated the issue of model overfitting; and effectively simplified the model and identified the most important colour features. It can serve as a useful and repeatable analytic tool for future research on facial impression modelling using high-dimensional datasets.

Let's put a smile on that face-A positive facial expression improves aesthetics of portrait photographs

In today's age of social media and smartphones, portraits-such as selfies or pictures of friends and family-are very frequently produced, shared and viewed images. Despite their prevalence, the psychological factors that characterize a 'good' photo-one that people will generally like, keep, and think is especially aesthetically pleasing-are not well understood. Here, we studied how a subtle change in facial expression (smiling) in portraits determines their aesthetic image value (beyond a more positive appearance of the depicted person). We used AI-based image processing tools in a broad set of portrait photographs and generated neutral and slightly smiling versions of the same pictures. Consistent across two experiments, portraits with a subtle smile increased both spontaneous aesthetic preferences in a swiping task as well as improving more explicit aesthetic ratings after prolonged viewing. Participants distinguished between aspects associated with image beauty and the depicted person's attractiveness, resulting in specific interactions between variables related to participant traits, image content, and task. Our study confirms that a subtle-and in this case fully artificial-smile reliably increases the aesthetic quality of portraits, illustrating how current image processing methods can target psychologically important variables and thereby increase the aesthetic value of photographs.

An investigation of the influence of skin colour on the perception of femininity, masculinity and likeable

Facial skin colour, a key factor related to impressions, is widely used by CG character designers to build characters with different storylines. The previous research provided essential suggestions for creating an attractive facial image. However, the suggestions of the prior research are insufficient for building the characters to resonate with the current public, especially young people. The present study investigates the influence of skin colour (whiteness and hue angle) on the femininity, masculinity and likableness perception of Chinese female and male images. A psychophysical experiment was carried out to investigate these relationships. The categorical judgement results reveal that whiteness significantly impacted the feminine-masculine perception of the Chinese male image and the likableness perception of the Chinese female and male image. This connection between the whiteness and likability of the male facial image could be related to the beauty trends in the last decade. The hue angle only significantly influenced the likability perception of the Chinese female image. This result is agreed with past research in the same area.