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Groyecka-Bernard A, Pisanski K, Frąckowiak T, Kobylarek A, Kupczyk P, Oleszkiewicz A, Sabiniewicz A, Wróbel M, Sorokowski P. Do Voice-Based Judgments of Socially Relevant Speaker Traits Differ Across Speech Types? JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2022; 65:3674-3694. [PMID: 36167068 DOI: 10.1044/2022_jslhr-21-00690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The human voice is a powerful and evolved social tool, with hundreds of studies showing that nonverbal vocal parameters robustly influence listeners' perceptions of socially meaningful speaker traits, ranging from perceived gender and age to attractiveness and trustworthiness. However, these studies have utilized a wide variety of voice stimuli to measure listeners' voice-based judgments of these traits. Here, in the largest scale study known to date, we test whether listeners judge the same unseen speakers differently depending on the complexity of the neutral speech stimulus, from single vowel sounds to a full paragraph. METHOD In a playback experiment testing 2,618 listeners, we examine whether commonly studied voice-based judgments of attractiveness, trustworthiness, dominance, likability, femininity/masculinity, and health differ if listeners hear isolated vowels, a series of vowels, single words, single sentences (greeting), counting from 1 to 10, or a full paragraph recited aloud (Rainbow Passage), recorded from the same 208 men and women. Data were collected using a custom-designed interface in which vocalizers and traits were randomly assigned to raters. RESULTS Linear-mixed models show that the type of voice stimulus does indeed consistently affect listeners' judgments. Overall, ratings of attractiveness, trustworthiness, dominance, likability, health, masculinity among men, and femininity among women increase as speech duration increases. At the same time, speaker-level regression analyses show that interindividual differences in perceived speaker traits are largely preserved across voice stimuli, especially among those of a similar duration. CONCLUSIONS Socially relevant perceptions of speakers are not wholly changed but rather moderated by the length of their speech. Indeed, the same vocalizer is perceived in a similar way regardless of which neutral statements they speak, with the caveat that longer utterances explain the most shared variance in listeners' judgments and elicit the highest ratings on all traits, possibly by providing additional nonverbal information to listeners. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21158890.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Katarzyna Pisanski
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Poland
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, University of Saint-Etienne, France
- CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, Université Lyon 2, France
| | | | | | - Piotr Kupczyk
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Poland
| | - Anna Oleszkiewicz
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Poland
- Smell and Taste Clinic, Department of Otolaryngology, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
| | - Agnieszka Sabiniewicz
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Poland
- Smell and Taste Clinic, Department of Otolaryngology, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
| | - Monika Wróbel
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Poland
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Krumpholz C, Quigley C, Ameen K, Reuter C, Fusani L, Leder H. The Effects of Pitch Manipulation on Male Ratings of Female Speakers and Their Voices. Front Psychol 2022; 13:911854. [PMID: 35874336 PMCID: PMC9302589 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.911854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Vocal and facial cues typically co-occur in natural settings, and multisensory processing of voice and face relies on their synchronous presentation. Psychological research has examined various facial and vocal cues to attractiveness as well as to judgements of sexual dimorphism, health, and age. However, few studies have investigated the interaction of vocal and facial cues in attractiveness judgments under naturalistic conditions using dynamic, ecologically valid stimuli. Here, we used short videos or audio tracks of females speaking full sentences and used a manipulation of voice pitch to investigate cross-modal interactions of voice pitch on facial attractiveness and related ratings. Male participants had to rate attractiveness, femininity, age, and health of synchronized audio-video recordings or voices only, with either original or modified voice pitch. We expected audio stimuli with increased voice pitch to be rated as more attractive, more feminine, healthier, and younger. If auditory judgements cross-modally influence judgements of facial attributes, we additionally expected the voice pitch manipulation to affect ratings of audiovisual stimulus material. We tested 106 male participants in a within-subject design in two sessions. Analyses revealed that voice recordings with increased voice pitch were perceived to be more feminine and younger, but not more attractive or healthier. When coupled with video recordings, increased pitch lowered perceived age of faces, but did not significantly influence perceived attractiveness, femininity, or health. Our results suggest that our manipulation of voice pitch has a measurable impact on judgements of femininity and age, but does not measurably influence vocal and facial attractiveness in naturalistic conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina Krumpholz
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
- *Correspondence: Christina Krumpholz,
| | - Cliodhna Quigley
- Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Karsan Ameen
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Christoph Reuter
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Musicology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Leonida Fusani
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Helmut Leder
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Voice Changes Across the Menstrual Cycle in Response to Masculinized and Feminized Man and Woman. ADAPTIVE HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND PHYSIOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s40750-022-00190-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Peng Z, Hu Z, Wang X, Jiao T, Li H, Liu H. Gender context modulation on the self-enhancement effect of vocal attractiveness evaluation. Psych J 2021; 10:858-867. [PMID: 34323015 DOI: 10.1002/pchj.472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2020] [Revised: 05/01/2021] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
People evaluated their own voices as sounding more attractive than others rated their voices (i.e., self-enhancement effect from the perspective of the rater, termed "SE_rater"), and people also rated their own voices as more attractive than the voices of others (i.e., self-enhancement effect from the perspective of the voice, termed "SE_voice"). The aim of the present study is to explore whether the gender context (i.e., same-sex and opposite-sex rating context) could influence the SE effect of voice attractiveness evaluation. Male and female participants were asked to rate the attractiveness of their own voices and other participants' voices, either in a same-sex session or an opposite-sex session. The results demonstrated both the SE_rater and SE_voice effect in the same-sex and opposite-sex contexts, for both male and female. More importantly, we found that the SE_rater for the male voices was significantly greater than that for the female voices in the same-sex context whereas no such difference was found in the opposite-sex context. In addition, the SE_voice effect in men was larger in the same-sex context than that in the opposite-sex context whereas the SE_voice in women was smaller in the same-sex context than that in the opposite-sex context. These findings indicated that the self-enhancement effect of vocal attractiveness was modulated by the gender context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhikang Peng
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zhiguo Hu
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Institute of Psychological Science, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xinyu Wang
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Tiantian Jiao
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Institute of Psychological Science, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hanxiaoran Li
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Institute of Psychological Science, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hongyan Liu
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China
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Zhang H, Liu M, Li W, Sommer W. Human voice attractiveness processing: Electrophysiological evidence. Biol Psychol 2019; 150:107827. [PMID: 31756365 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.107827] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2019] [Revised: 11/08/2019] [Accepted: 11/17/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Voice attractiveness plays a significant role in social interaction and mate choice. However, how listeners perceive attractive voices and whether this process is mandatory, is poorly understood. The current study explores this question using event-related brain potentials. Participants listened to syllables spoken by male and female voices with high or low attractiveness while completing an implicit (voice un-related) tone detection task or explicitly judging voice attractiveness. In both tasks, attractive male voices elicited a larger N1 than unattractive voices. However, an effect of voice attractiveness on the late positive complex (LPC) was only seen in the explicit task but it was present to both same- and opposite-sex voices. Taken together, voice attractiveness processing during early stages appears to be rapid and mandatory and related to mate selection, whereas during later elaborated processing, voice attractiveness is strategic and aesthetics-based, requiring attentional resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hang Zhang
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
| | - Meng Liu
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
| | - Weijun Li
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China.
| | - Werner Sommer
- Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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Valentova JV, Tureček P, Varella MAC, Šebesta P, Mendes FDC, Pereira KJ, Kubicová L, Stolařová P, Havlíček J. Vocal Parameters of Speech and Singing Covary and Are Related to Vocal Attractiveness, Body Measures, and Sociosexuality: A Cross-Cultural Study. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2029. [PMID: 31695631 PMCID: PMC6817625 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2018] [Accepted: 08/20/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Perceived vocal attractiveness and measured sex-dimorphic vocal parameters are both associated with underlying individual qualities. Research tends to focus on speech but singing is another highly evolved communication system that has distinct and universal features with analogs in other species, and it is relevant in mating. Both speaking and singing voice provides relevant information about its producer. We tested whether speech and singing function as "backup signals" that indicate similar underlying qualities. Using a sample of 81 men and 86 women from Brazil and the Czech Republic, we investigated vocal attractiveness rated from speech and singing and its association with fundamental frequency (F0), apparent vocal tract length (VTL), body characteristics, and sociosexuality. F0, VTL, and rated attractiveness of singing and speaking voice strongly correlated within the same individual. Lower-pitched speech in men, higher-pitched speech and singing in women, individuals who like to sing more, and singing of individuals with a higher pitch modulation were perceived as more attractive. In men, physical size positively predicted speech and singing attractiveness. Male speech but not singing attractiveness was associated with higher sociosexuality. Lower-pitched male speech was related to higher sociosexuality, while lower-pitched male singing was linked to lower sociosexuality. Similarly, shorter speech VTL and longer singing VTL predicted higher sociosexuality in women. Different vocal displays function as "backup signals" cueing to attractiveness and body size, but their relation to sexual strategies in men and women differs. Both singing and speech may indicate evolutionarily relevant individual qualities shaped by sexual selection.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Petr Tureček
- Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | | | - Pavel Šebesta
- Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | | | - Kamila Janaina Pereira
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Lydie Kubicová
- Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | | | - Jan Havlíček
- Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
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Pisanski K, Jones BC, Fink B, O'Connor JJ, DeBruine LM, Röder S, Feinberg DR. Voice parameters predict sex-specific body morphology in men and women. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Physiological changes in response to hearing female voices recorded at high fertility. Physiol Behav 2015; 139:386-92. [DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2014.11.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2014] [Revised: 07/21/2014] [Accepted: 11/07/2014] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Pisanski K, Fraccaro PJ, Tigue CC, O'Connor JJ, Röder S, Andrews PW, Fink B, DeBruine LM, Jones BC, Feinberg DR. Vocal indicators of body size in men and women: a meta-analysis. Anim Behav 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 123] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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Röder S, Fink B, Feinberg DR, Neave N. Facial Visualizations of Women's Voices Suggest a Cross-Modality Preference for Femininity. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2013. [DOI: 10.1177/147470491301100119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Women with higher-pitched voices and more feminine facial features are commonly judged as being more attractive than are women with lower-pitched voices and less feminine faces, possibly because both features are affected by (age-related) variations in endocrine status. These results are primarily derived from investigations of perceptions of variations in single-modality stimuli (i.e., faces or voices) in samples of young adult women. In the present study we sought to test whether male and female perceptions of women's voices affect visual representations of facial femininity. Eighty men and women judged voice recordings of 10 young girls (11–15 years), 10 adult women (19–28 years) and 10 peri-/post-menopausal women (50–64 years) on age, attractiveness, and femininity. Another 80 men and women were asked to indicate the face they think each voice corresponded to using a video that gradually changed from a masculine looking male face into a feminine looking female face. Both male and female participants perceived voices of young girls and adult women to be significantly younger, more attractive and feminine than those of peri-/post-menopausal women. Hearing young girls' and adult women's voices resulted in both men and women selecting faces that differed markedly in apparent femininity from those associated with peri-/post-menopausal women's voices. Voices of young girls had the strongest effect on visualizations of facial femininity. Our results suggest a cross-modal preference for women's vocal and facial femininity, which depends on female age and is independent of the perceiver's sex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susanne Röder
- Department of Sociobiology/Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Bernhard Fink
- Department of Sociobiology/Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - David R. Feinberg
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behavior, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Nick Neave
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
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