Abstract:

Face, as a high-level visual stimulus, has an irreplaceable role in interpersonal interaction. In particular, facial attractiveness influences major social decisions in our daily life, such as mate selection, hiring judgment, and social exchange. For a long time, researchers have been exploring the perception of static facial attractiveness from the perspectives of facial features, social information, and observer factors, and they have for the most part adopted an evolutionary approach. However, regarding the representation of facial attractiveness and the attractiveness enhancement effect of dynamic faces, very little is known about the underlying mechanisms. The current project attempts to answer these questions through two studies that focus respectively on the holistic representation of facial attractiveness and attractiveness enhancement effect of facial motion through its influence on holistic processing, attention to holistic/local features, and social information of faces. In Study 1, we will explore the cognitive representation of facial attractiveness from a holistic processing perspective. Study 1.1 adopts a rating task and the adaptation paradigm to examine the effects of high spatial frequency (more local features) and low spatial frequency (more holistic features) on facial attractiveness. If the representation of facial attractiveness is holistic, then faces with low spatial frequencies will naturally be found more attractive than faces with high spatial frequencies. Study 1.2 manipulates facial symmetry and facial normality to examine the mediating effect of facial normality between facial symmetry and facial attractiveness, which will reflect the holistic normality representation of facial attractiveness. Study 1.3 introduces the traditional Chinese aesthetic theory "Three Forehead and Five Eyes" to explore the holistic representation of facial attractiveness. We will use a rating task and the adaptation paradigm to investigate whether this "Three Forehead and Five Eyes" facial configuration matches Chinese people's representation of attractive Chinese faces. Study 1.4 examines whether partial face masking facilitates overall facial attractiveness and whether this facilitation effect is due to people imagining the intact face through its parts. In Study 2, we will explore the attractiveness enhancement mechanism of dynamic faces in terms of holistic processing, attention, and vitality. Study 2.1 uses a composite face paradigm to measure the holistic processing of dynamic and static facial attractiveness, which delves into whether differences in attractiveness between static and dynamic faces arise from differences in their holistic processing. In Study 2.2, using a dual-task paradigm and incorporating eye-movement techniques, we will explore whether there are differences in the attention patterns of dynamic and static faces and whether such differences could explain the attractiveness enhancement of dynamic faces. Study 2.3 combined the use of questionnaire, behavioral experiment, and structural equation modeling to examine the effect of vitality on the attractiveness of dynamic and static faces. This project aims to explore the cognitive representation of facial attractiveness and the attractiveness enhancement mechanism of dynamic faces, which will further our understanding of the cognitive mechanism of facial attractiveness and the high-level intelligence required for human aesthetic perception. Furthermore, the results of this project will have potential applications elsewhere, such as facilitating daily interpersonal interactions, optimizing algorithms related to facial attractiveness and so on.

Key words: cognitive aesthetics, aesthetic perception, facial attractiveness, attention, holistic processing