Faces with Light Makeup Are Better Recognized than Faces with Heavy Makeup

Impact of facial palsy impact on make-up habits: An observational cohort study

OBJECTIVE

The esthetic problems inherent to peripheral (PFP) are frequent causes of complaint. Make-up is advocated as a form of therapy and can alleviate symptoms of depression. The aim of the present study was to collect data on make-up habits in female PFP patients and assess links with esthetic and/or functional complaints.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Two questionnaires were drawn up to compare make-up habits in female PFP patients and women in the general population. The first was sent out between September and December 2019, to 39 House-Brackmann grade III PFP patients (group A), and the second on-line questionnaire was sent to a control population of 1385 women (group B).

RESULTS

PFP patients used make-up more often than controls at weekends (χ2=16.38; P=0.0009) and while at home (χ2=8.21; P=0.042), and more often with foundation (χ2=17.21; P=0.0006) and lip make-up (χ2=59.31; P<0.0001). The greater their functional complaint, the less they made up their eyes. The greater their self-confidence and the more they felt attractive, the less they made up their lips.

CONCLUSION

The differences in make-up use found in the present study aimed to mask facial palsy and were related to the esthetic complaint, impacting social life.

Relationships between subjective experience, electroencephalogram, and heart rate variability during a series of cosmetic behavior

Introduction

Cosmetic behavior is an important daily activity, especially for women, because it increases visual attractiveness, self-confidence, and positive emotions. However, it is unknown whether a relationship exists between physiological measures and subjective experiences during the series of cosmetic behaviors.

Methods

Electroencephalograms (EEG) and electrocardiograms (ECG) from thirty female participants who were asked to look in a mirror after applying skincare, as well as base, eye, cheek, and lip makeup were recorded. The price range of cosmetic products was also considered. Subjective evaluations of the skin surface, emotions, and self-confidence were equally measured after looking in the mirror at each step of the cosmetic behavior. Linear mixed models were fitted to examine whether the subjective experience could be explained by the variety of cosmetic products and/or physiological responses.

Results

The subjective evaluation was summarized into the following three factors using a factor analysis: self-confidence, hedonic perception, and negative emotion. Each theta-band (4-6 Hz) power, alpha-band (8-13 Hz) power of the EEG, and heart rate variability measures were subjected to a principal component analysis separately. The linear mixed models indicated that the variation in the self-confidence score and the negative emotion score was explained only by the steps of cosmetic behaviors, that is, self-confidence increased while negative emotions decreased as the steps of cosmetic behaviors proceeded. On the other hand, the hedonic perception score was explained by the interaction of the steps of cosmetic behaviors and price, indicating that positive tactile perception and positive emotion were higher when luxury cosmetic products were applied than when affordable products were applied. Furthermore, the model indicated that the hedonic perception score was positively associated with the alpha-band power over occipital sites whereas sympathetic nervous system activity was negatively associated with the alpha-band power over lateral central sites.

Discussion

These results suggest that positive perceptual and emotional experiences are associated with greater attention to somatosensory information than to visual information and sympathetic autonomic nervous system activities. The current results also emphasize the possibility of using physiological measurements as objective measures of cosmetic behavior.

materialmodifier: An R package of photo editing effects for material perception research

In this paper, we introduce an R package that performs automated photo editing effects. Specifically, it is an R implementation of an image-processing algorithm proposed by Boyadzhiev et al. (2015). The software allows the user to manipulate the appearance of objects in photographs, such as emphasizing facial blemishes and wrinkles, smoothing the skin, or enhancing the gloss of fruit. It provides a reproducible method to quantitatively control specific surface properties of objects (e.g., gloss and roughness), which is useful for researchers interested in topics related to material perception, from basic mechanisms of perception to the aesthetic evaluation of faces and objects. We describe the functionality, usage, and algorithm of the method, report on the findings of a behavioral evaluation experiment, and discuss its usefulness and limitations for psychological research. The package can be installed via CRAN, and documentation and source code are available at https://github.com/tsuda16k/materialmodifier .

Salon nail care with superficial self-disclosure vitalizes psychological state

Physical attractiveness has long been established as a desirable trait in society. Physically attractive individuals are considered more competent, successful, and sociable. Numerous studies have examined the influence of makeup on physical attractiveness and its subjective psychological effects. However, the effect of nail care has not yet been examined. This study aimed to explore the psychological effects of nail care. Female Japanese participants (N = 334) completed an online questionnaire. The results showed that nail care positively elevated three aspects: positive emotions, relaxation, and vitalization. Moreover, they confirmed significant differences between receiving nail care from salon manicurists and self-performed nail care in terms of positive emotions and relaxation. The results indicated that nail care altered the appearance of the recipients' nails and their self-esteem, including their feelings, mood, and motivation. Furthermore, this study indicates that it may be preferable for both manicurists and clients not to self-disclose in-depth, as this would negate the positive effects of nail care. The study concludes with recommendations for future research.

Cosmetic makeup enhances facial attractiveness and affective neural responses

Although it is well established that cosmetic makeup enhances perceived facial attractiveness, few studies have examined whether facial makeup modulates neural responses to face images. This study investigated behavioral and attractiveness-related brain responses to self-applied makeup, focusing on the N170, early posterior negativity, P300, and late positive potential components of event-related brain potentials. A total of 77 Japanese women participated in two experiments (N = 34 and 43 for Experiments 1 and 2, respectively). Experiment 1 assessed the effects of self-applied makeup on attractiveness-related event-related potential amplitudes using facial images during a makeup identification task in which makeup was directly relevant to task demands. Experiment 2 examined the effects of self-applied makeup using images of one’s own face and another female’s face when performing a gender classification task, where the presence of makeup had no explicit connection to facial gender classification. In both experiments, faces with makeup were rated as more attractive and elicited more negative early posterior negativity and more positive late positive potential components, regardless of the participant’s own face or another person’s face. These findings suggest that people are spontaneously motivated to pay visual attention to faces with makeup, which supports the idea that makeup adds reward value to the facial appearance of the human. Moreover, neural evidence empirically confirmed that the benefits of makeup are not just limited to how others see your face but also extend to how you see your own face.

Light makeup decreases receivers' negative emotional experience

Makeup is widely used in modern society and has a positive effect on perceived attractiveness. However, little is known about the other possible outcomes of makeup use. In this study, we investigated whether makeup enhances a receiver's emotional experience. Dynamic faces with or without makeup are presented in Experiments 1 and 2. Participants were asked to imagine themselves video chatting with a target person (expresser) with different expressions: neutral, angry, sad, or happy, and then to appraise their own subjective emotional experience. Emotional valence, arousal, and willingness to communicate were also assessed in Experiment 2. The results showed that makeup improved perceived facial attractiveness and increased the willingness to communicate. More importantly, it revealed that wearing makeup could weaken receivers' negative experiences arising from the angry and sad conditions, which is not the case for the non-makeup condition, but could not affect the happy contagion. Furthermore, incremental changes in the amount of makeup were not accompanied by incremental changes in emotional appraisal (valence and arousal). Overall, we found that makeup may affect emotional contagion and interpersonal communication. Whether the alleviated negative experience due to makeup is adaptive may need further discussion.

Makeup and Its Application Simulation Affect Women's Self-Perceptions

Appearance modification is ancient, universal and influences other and self-perceptions. It has been rarely addressed how expectation of appearance modification would affect women's self-perception. We analyzed self-assessments of women without makeup and after having makeup professionally applied at four increasing levels (light, moderate, heavy 1, and heavy 2 makeup). In the simulation phase, women were treated with colorless cosmetics. Fifty Brazilian women (M_age = 24.26 years; SD = 5.53) rated themselves on attractiveness, health, self-esteem, femininity, satisfaction with appearance, age, dominance, confidence, and competence in all experimental conditions. Women in the simulation phase considered themselves more feminine, healthier, and with higher self-esteem than without makeup. In the real makeup phases, these ratings were higher than in the simulation phase. Appearance satisfaction and attractiveness did not differ between simulation and the real makeup phases, both being higher than without makeup. Confidence increased only in real makeup phases, but there was no effect on competence. Thus, real appearance modification and/or an expectation thereof can differently affect specific domains of self-evaluation.

Who's Behind the Makeup? The Effects of Varying Levels of Cosmetics Application on Perceptions of Facial Attractiveness, Competence, and Sociosexuality

Research has demonstrated a positive effect of makeup on facial attractiveness (Cash et al., 1989; Russell, 2003; Etcoff et al., 2011). Makeup has also been found to influence social perceptions (Etcoff et al., 2011; Klatt et al., 2016). While researchers have typically compared faces with makeup to faces without makeup, we propose that perceived effects will differ based on the amount of makeup that is applied. To test the effects of varying levels of makeup on perceived facial attractiveness, competence, and sociosexuality, participants assessed 35 faces with no makeup, light makeup, and heavy makeup; makeup was self-applied by participants, not applied by a makeup artist or the experimenter. Participants rated faces with makeup (either light or heavy) as more competent than those without makeup. In addition, participants rated faces with heavy makeup as significantly higher in attractiveness and sociosexuality than faces with light makeup. These results differ from previous research findings that faces with light makeup (applied by professional makeup artists) are perceived as most attractive. Our results suggest that when makeup is self-applied, faces with heavy makeup are perceived as more attractive and sociosexual than faces with light makeup, and faces with any level of makeup are rated as more competent.

Explaining the Voluntary Compliance to COVID-19 Measures: An Extrapolation on the Gender Perspective

The discourse of gender amidst the COVID-19 pandemic had been a big fuss. Amongst the discussions is the gender-related responses to COVID-19 that generally assume females to better respond to COVID-19 than males. Despite the converging assumptions, previous studies tend to conceptualize gender as binary biological sex, and consequently, there is little understanding of the gender-COVID-19 measures compliance relationship. By taking gender as a multidimensional perspective, this research aims to examine the relationship between sex, gender psychology, and gender-role with voluntary compliance to COVID-19 measures as well as the moderating role of situational aspects that can activate individuals' responses toward COVID-19. A survey had been conducted in Indonesia, as Indonesia represents a country with relaxed COVID-19 restrictions making voluntary compliance is deemed important. Consistent with our predictions and previous studies, females tend to better comply with COVID-19 when gender is treated as dichotomous sex. However, a closer look at the gender dimensions revealed that gender psychology (feminine vs masculine) and gender-role (traditional vs egalitarian) provide a better explanation of the specific compliance behaviour toward COVID-19 measures. Interestingly, although situational pathogen avoidance (SPA) directly leads to adherence to several compliance behaviours, it does not moderate the four compliance behaviour of COVID-19 measures. Theoretical and practical contributions are further discussed.

Human brain activity reflecting facial attractiveness from skin reflection

Facial attraction has a great influence on our daily social interactions. Previous studies have mainly focused on the attraction from facial shape and expression. We recently found that faces with radiant skin appear to be more attractive than those with oily-shiny or matte skin. In the present study, we conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and psychological experiments to determine the human brain activity that reflects facial attractiveness modulated by these skin reflection types. In the fMRI experiment, female subjects were shown successive images of unfamiliar female faces with matte, oily-shiny, or radiant skin. The subjects compared each face with the immediately preceding face in terms of attractiveness, age, and skin reflection, all based on the skin. The medial part of the orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) was significantly more active when comparing attractiveness than when comparing skin reflection, suggesting that the mOFC is involved in processing facial attractiveness from skin reflection. In the psychological experiment, attractiveness rating was highest for radiant skin, followed by oily-shiny, and then matte skin. Comparison of the results of these experiments showed that mOFC activation level increased with attractiveness rating. These results suggest that the activation level of the mOFC reflects facial attractiveness from skin reflection.

The signature featureTM : A new concept in beauty

Signature Feature^TM (SF) is a universal, yet highly personalized treatment approach to aesthetic facial enhancement that applies to all patients, independent of age, gender, or ethnicity. Its philosophical basis maintains that a patient's beauty is anchored by their most distinctive invariant features (invariant features like eyes, nose, cheekbones, or jawline), and preservation of such signature features should be an essential consideration in any aesthetic treatment plan. The principles central to the SF concept include: (a) identifying the patient's most distinctive signature feature, (b) matching the patient's persona to their signature feature while preserving alignment with their cultural/ethnic aesthetic, and (c) highlighting the patient's signature feature by increasing the "signal-to-noise" ratio between the strength of the signature feature and those factors that may be interfering with it (lines, wrinkles, and sun damage). Every patient represents a new combination of treatment challenges which are not only related to the patient's physical baseline characteristics but also by their subjective self-perceptions. This subjective gray area is where the SF treatment approach has the greatest contribution to the patient's positive self-perception and self-esteem, as the practitioner can help the patient realize their own personal brand through enhancement of their signature feature using an array of aesthetic options.

Rapid Adaptation to the Timbre of Natural Sounds

Timbre, the unique quality of a sound that points to its source, allows us to quickly identify a loved one's voice in a crowd and distinguish a buzzy, bright trumpet from a warm cello. Despite its importance for perceiving the richness of auditory objects, timbre is a relatively poorly understood feature of sounds. Here we demonstrate for the first time that listeners adapt to the timbre of a wide variety of natural sounds. For each of several sound classes, participants were repeatedly exposed to two sounds (e.g., clarinet and oboe, male and female voice) that formed the endpoints of a morphed continuum. Adaptation to timbre resulted in consistent perceptual aftereffects, such that hearing sound A significantly altered perception of a neutral morph between A and B, making it sound more like B. Furthermore, these aftereffects were robust to moderate pitch changes, suggesting that adaptation to timbral features used for object identification drives these effects, analogous to face adaptation in vision.

Development of the Korean Facial Emotion Stimuli: Korea University Facial Expression Collection 2nd Edition

Background: Developing valid emotional facial stimuli for specific ethnicities creates ample opportunities to investigate both the nature of emotional facial information processing in general and clinical populations as well as the underlying mechanisms of facial emotion processing within and across cultures. Given that most entries in emotional facial stimuli databases were developed with western samples, and given that very few of the eastern emotional facial stimuli sets were based strictly on the Ekman’s Facial Action Coding System, developing valid emotional facial stimuli of eastern samples remains a high priority.

Aims: To develop and examine the psychometric properties of six basic emotional facial stimuli recruiting professional Korean actors and actresses based on the Ekman’s Facial Action Coding System for the Korea University Facial Expression Collection-Second Edition (KUFEC-II).

Materials And Methods: Stimulus selection was done in two phases. First, researchers evaluated the clarity and intensity of each stimulus developed based on the Facial Action Coding System. Second, researchers selected a total of 399 stimuli from a total of 57 actors and actresses, which were then rated on accuracy, intensity, valence, and arousal by 75 independent raters.

Conclusion: The hit rates between the targeted and rated expressions of the KUFEC-II were all above 80%, except for fear (50%) and disgust (63%). The KUFEC-II appears to be a valid emotional facial stimuli database, providing the largest set of emotional facial stimuli. The mean intensity score was 5.63 (out of 7), suggesting that the stimuli delivered the targeted emotions with great intensity. All positive expressions were rated as having a high positive valence, whereas all negative expressions were rated as having a high negative valence. The KUFEC II is expected to be widely used in various psychological studies on emotional facial expression. KUFEC-II stimuli can be obtained through contacting the corresponding authors.

The light-makeup advantage in facial processing: Evidence from event-related potentials

The effects of makeup on attractiveness have been evaluated using mainly subjective measures. In this study, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded from a total of 45 Japanese women (n = 23 and n = 22 for Experiment 1 and 2, respectively) to examine the neural processing of faces with no makeup, light makeup, and heavy makeup. To have the participants look at each face carefully, an identity judgement task was used: they were asked to judge whether the two faces presented in succession were of the same person or not. The ERP waveforms in response to the first faces were analyzed. In two experiments with different stimulus probabilities, the amplitudes of N170 and vertex positive potential (VPP) were smaller for faces with light makeup than for faces with heavy makeup or no makeup. The P1 amplitude did not differ between facial types. In a subsequent rating phase, faces with light makeup were rated as more attractive than faces with heavy makeup and no makeup. The results suggest that the processing fluency of faces with light makeup is one of the reasons why light makeup is preferred to heavy makeup and no makeup in daily life.

Facial Cosmetics and Attractiveness: Comparing the Effect Sizes of Professionally-Applied Cosmetics and Identity

Forms of body decoration exist in all human cultures. However, in Western societies, women are more likely to engage in appearance modification, especially through the use of facial cosmetics. How effective are cosmetics at altering attractiveness? Previous research has hinted that the effect is not large, especially when compared to the variation in attractiveness observed between individuals due to differences in identity. In order to build a fuller understanding of how cosmetics and identity affect attractiveness, here we examine how professionally-applied cosmetics alter attractiveness and compare this effect with the variation in attractiveness observed between individuals. In Study 1, 33 YouTube models were rated for attractiveness before and after the application of professionally-applied cosmetics. Cosmetics explained a larger proportion of the variation in attractiveness compared with previous studies, but this effect remained smaller than variation caused by differences in attractiveness between individuals. Study 2 replicated the results of the first study with a sample of 45 supermodels, with the aim of examining the effect of cosmetics in a sample of faces with low variation in attractiveness between individuals. While the effect size of cosmetics was generally large, between-person variability due to identity remained larger. Both studies also found interactions between cosmetics and identity–more attractive models received smaller increases when cosmetics were worn. Overall, we show that professionally-applied cosmetics produce a larger effect than self-applied cosmetics, an important theoretical consideration for the field. However, the effect of individual differences in facial appearance is ultimately more important in perceptions of attractiveness.