Perceptual Advantage of Animal Facial Attractiveness: Evidence From b-CFS and Binocular Rivalry
Research has shown that attractive human faces enjoy an advantage in both conscious and preconscious processing. Here we examined whether this preference for attractiveness is exclusive to human faces by measuring participants’ sensitivity to the attractiveness of cat and tiger faces. Experiment 1 m...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01670/full |
| _version_ | 1818316203948507136 |
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| author | Junchen Shang Zhihui Liu Hong Yang Chengyu Wang Lingya Zheng Wenfeng Chen Chang Hong Liu |
| author_facet | Junchen Shang Zhihui Liu Hong Yang Chengyu Wang Lingya Zheng Wenfeng Chen Chang Hong Liu |
| author_sort | Junchen Shang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Research has shown that attractive human faces enjoy an advantage in both conscious and preconscious processing. Here we examined whether this preference for attractiveness is exclusive to human faces by measuring participants’ sensitivity to the attractiveness of cat and tiger faces. Experiment 1 measured the time taken to break continuous flash suppression (b-CFS), whereas Experiment 2 measured the dominant time in binocular rivalry (BR). The results showed that attractive cat faces were detected more quickly (Experiment 1) and dominated for longer time in visual awareness (Experiment 2). However, no effect of attractiveness was found for tiger faces in Experiment 1, while attractive tiger faces also dominated for longer time in visual awareness in Experiment 2. The results provide first evidence that the preference for attractive animal faces can be shown involuntarily or without apparent conscious control. The findings suggest that human preference for facial attractiveness may contain an aesthetic element rather than being a purely adaptive means for mate choice. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T09:17:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-06017713452d47278e62f830b36204eb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T09:17:42Z |
| publishDate | 2020-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-06017713452d47278e62f830b36204eb2022-12-21T23:52:48ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782020-07-011110.3389/fpsyg.2020.01670536321Perceptual Advantage of Animal Facial Attractiveness: Evidence From b-CFS and Binocular RivalryJunchen Shang0Zhihui Liu1Hong Yang2Chengyu Wang3Lingya Zheng4Wenfeng Chen5Chang Hong Liu6College of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, ChinaCollege of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, ChinaCollege of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, ChinaCollege of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, ChinaCollege of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, ChinaDepartment of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, ChinaDepartment of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole, United KingdomResearch has shown that attractive human faces enjoy an advantage in both conscious and preconscious processing. Here we examined whether this preference for attractiveness is exclusive to human faces by measuring participants’ sensitivity to the attractiveness of cat and tiger faces. Experiment 1 measured the time taken to break continuous flash suppression (b-CFS), whereas Experiment 2 measured the dominant time in binocular rivalry (BR). The results showed that attractive cat faces were detected more quickly (Experiment 1) and dominated for longer time in visual awareness (Experiment 2). However, no effect of attractiveness was found for tiger faces in Experiment 1, while attractive tiger faces also dominated for longer time in visual awareness in Experiment 2. The results provide first evidence that the preference for attractive animal faces can be shown involuntarily or without apparent conscious control. The findings suggest that human preference for facial attractiveness may contain an aesthetic element rather than being a purely adaptive means for mate choice.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01670/fullfacial attractivenessbinocular rivalrybreaking continuous flash suppressionpreconscious processingby-products hypothesis |
| spellingShingle | Junchen Shang Zhihui Liu Hong Yang Chengyu Wang Lingya Zheng Wenfeng Chen Chang Hong Liu Perceptual Advantage of Animal Facial Attractiveness: Evidence From b-CFS and Binocular Rivalry Frontiers in Psychology facial attractiveness binocular rivalry breaking continuous flash suppression preconscious processing by-products hypothesis |
| title | Perceptual Advantage of Animal Facial Attractiveness: Evidence From b-CFS and Binocular Rivalry |
| title_full | Perceptual Advantage of Animal Facial Attractiveness: Evidence From b-CFS and Binocular Rivalry |
| title_fullStr | Perceptual Advantage of Animal Facial Attractiveness: Evidence From b-CFS and Binocular Rivalry |
| title_full_unstemmed | Perceptual Advantage of Animal Facial Attractiveness: Evidence From b-CFS and Binocular Rivalry |
| title_short | Perceptual Advantage of Animal Facial Attractiveness: Evidence From b-CFS and Binocular Rivalry |
| title_sort | perceptual advantage of animal facial attractiveness evidence from b cfs and binocular rivalry |
| topic | facial attractiveness binocular rivalry breaking continuous flash suppression preconscious processing by-products hypothesis |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01670/full |
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