Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Facial attractiveness is of particular relevance to evolution. Facial attractiveness can be perceived rapidly and subsequently pose large impacts on other cognitive processes. Researchers have done a lot of behavioral and neural studies on the roles of facial attractiveness from the perspectives of attention, temporal perception, learning, memory, and decision-making over recent years. The discrepancies in past research mainly focused on the different behavioral and neural responses evoked by facial attractiveness in similar experimental tasks. There are also several extensible aspects in this line of research, such as the topics, technical methods and materials. Future fMRI studies are needed to further explore the neural mechanisms of how facial attractiveness influences cognition.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Previous studies showed that the attractiveness rating of a face was influenced by context face, which may lead the evaluation to be closer to or far away from the attractiveness of the context, known as assimilation effect or contrast effect. It suggests the influence of context face on target attractiveness evaluation varies and needs to further clarify how it happens. However, there are two problems remain to be solved according to the manner on how the assimilation effect is calculated in previous studies. Firstly, the calculation method of assimilation effect is based on a relative standard by comparing attractiveness ratings of target faces between different contexts (i.e., T1 vs T2), which ignores the initial attractiveness of target face (T0) presented alone. This might lead to an illusive assimilation effect, where both T1 and T2 are far away from T0 and is actually a contrast effect. Secondly, there is a change of assimilation effect associated with the change of target-context difference if an illusive assimilation effect is true. But the change of target-context difference is ignored in previous studies, and how it impact on the attractiveness rating of target face remains unlcear. In this study, the assimilation effect was calculated based on an absolute standard by comparing attractiveness ratings of target faces with their initial attractiveness rated without context. In the experiment, the medium attractive faces was chosen as target face and high-attractive faces as context faces, and the attractiveness difference between the target and the context was changed in a consecutive way. A within-participant design was adopted with the attractiveness difference between the target and the context and exposure time as independent variables. The results found that under highly attractive context faces, individuals' attractiveness ratings of medium target were increased to be closer to the context, resulted in an assimilation effect. In particular, we found the assimilation effect was changed with the attractiveness difference between the target and the context, called the continuum effect in assimilation process. More interestingly, an illusive contrast effect would be concluded if comparing attractiveness ratings between different context without considering th initial attractiveness rating (i.e., a relative standard). That is, the assimilation effect might be mistaken as a contrast effect in previous studies. In addition, the exposure time affected the evaluation of facial attractiveness, and individuals were more inclined to overestimate facial attractiveness in short time.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： Previous research demonstrated that ensemble perception of groups can be formed rapidly by extraction of the average of high-level complex features. However, it is unclear whether the average percept is the outcome of extraction from the characteristic value of the average stimulus (for example, average face) created from group members, or from calculation of the average value of group members’ characteristic values. The above two values were confused with each other in prior research, since most average value of group members are similar as the characteristic value of the average stimulus. However, the attractiveness rating of the average face created from a group of faces is usually systematically higher than the mean value of attractiveness ratings of this group of faces. Therefore, it is easier to explore how the ensemble coding of crowd face attractiveness (i.e. group attractiveness) is formed by comparing the attractiveness of the average face with the mean value of attractiveness rating of a group of faces. This could provide a useful approach to explore how the average percept is formed. The present study used the average discrimination paradigm (Experiment 1 & 2) and the scoring paradigm (Experiment 3 & 4) to clarify the mechanism of the formation of average percept by comparing the group attractiveness with the attractiveness of average face. To tackle this issue, whether the average face was presented in the group of faces or not was manipulated (conditions: Avg vs. NoAvg). Group size were also manipulated to explore whether group size modulated the formation of average percept. In the average discrimination paradigm, a group of faces served as group stimuli to be compare with the probe face for attractiveness. Participants were asked to judge which is more attractive between the group stimuli and the probe face. In the scoring paradigm, participants were asked to rate the attractiveness of group stimuli, the average face created from the group, and each face of the group in isolated manner. Each group consisted of twelve (in Experiments 1 and 3) or four faces (in Experiments 2 and 4). There were two kinds of groups: one is that all group members are original faces, without the average face. The other is that an average face morphed from other original faces was included in the group. In Experiment 1, the proportions for judging probe average face more attractive than group attractiveness in the Avg condition was similar with the NoAvg condition. In Experiment 2, when the set size was four, the proportions for judging probe average face more attractive than group attractiveness were significantly higher in the NoAvg condition. Moreover, in Experiment 3, the ratings for group attractiveness were not significantly different between Avg and NoAvg conditions. This may indicate that the group attractiveness is based on the average face which was created from group members rather than the mean value calculated from group members’ attractiveness. In addition, the diffusion model analysis showed that the coding time was longer for NoAvg condition, which indicated that the formation of average face needed cognitive resource. In Experiment 4, when the set size was four, the attractiveness rating of the average face was significantly higher than group ratings for the two kinds of groups. The different results in different group size may be interpreted as the outcome of weakened average percept caused by the salient individual face representations in small group. This was evident from several analyses: 1) group attractiveness and the attractiveness of morphed average face decreased with smaller set size (Experiment 4); 2) When the probe face was morphed average face, the proportion for judging probe face as more attractive than group attractiveness was greater, comparing with the condition when the probe was a new face whose attractiveness was similar with the morphed average face (Experiment 2); 3) The performance for the hypothesized condition with average percept included in the set is in between the conditions with/without real average face included (Experiment 2-4). In addition, comparing with Experiment 1, the information accumulation speed in Experiment 2 is slower, the processing time of group attractiveness is longer, reflecting the disturbance of the individual face representation. In summary, the findings supported the hypothesis that group attractiveness is based on the morphed average face. Thus, the ensemble percept relies on the extraction from the average stimulus created from the group.
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2021-02-18
Abstract： Previous research demonstrated that ensemble perception of groups can be formed rapidly by extraction of the average of high-level complex features. However, it is unclear whether the average percept is the outcome of extraction from the characteristic value of the average stimulus (for example, average face) created from group members, or from calculation of the average value of group members’ characteristic values. The above two values were confused with each other in prior research，since most average value of group members are similar as the characteristic value of the average stimulus. However, the attractiveness rating of the average face created from a group of faces is usually systematically higher than the mean value of attractiveness ratings of this group of faces. Therefore, it is easier to explore how the ensemble coding of crowd face attractiveness (i.e. group attractiveness) is formed by comparing the attractiveness of the average face with the mean value of attractiveness rating of a group of faces. This could provide a useful approach to explore how the average percept is formed. The present study used the average discrimination paradigm (Experiment 1 & 2) and the scoring paradigm (Experiment 3 & 4) to clarify the mechanism of the formation of average percept by comparing the group attractiveness with the attractiveness of average face. To tackle this issue, whether the average face was presented in the group of faces or not was manipulated (conditions: Avg vs. NoAvg). Group size were also manipulated to explore whether group size modulated the formation of average percept. In the average discrimination paradigm, a group of faces served as group stimuli to be compare with the probe face for attractiveness. Participants were asked to judge which is more attractive between the group stimuli and the probe face. In the scoring paradigm, participants were asked to rate the attractiveness of group stimuli, the average face created from the group, and each face of the group in isolated manner. Each group consisted of twelve (in Experiments 1 and 3) or four faces (in Experiments 2 and 4). There were two kinds of groups: one is that all group members are original faces, without the average face. The other is that an average face morphed from other original faces was included in the group. In Experiment 1, the proportions for judging probe average face more attractive than group attractiveness in the Avg condition was similar with the NoAvg condition. In Experiment 2, when the set size was four, the proportions for judging probe average face more attractive than group attractiveness were significantly higher in the NoAvg condition. Moreover, in Experiment 3, the ratings for group attractiveness were not significantly different between Avg and NoAvg conditions. This may indicate that the group attractiveness is based on the average face which was created from group members rather than the mean value calculated from group members’ attractiveness. In addition, the diffusion model analysis showed that the coding time was longer for NoAvg condition, which indicated that the formation of average face needed cognitive resource. In Experiment 4, when the set size was four, the attractiveness rating of the average face was significantly higher than group ratings for the two kinds of groups. The different results in different group size may be interpreted as the outcome of weakened average percept caused by the salient individual face representations in small group. This was evident from several analyses: 1) group attractiveness and the attractiveness of morphed average face decreased with smaller set size (Experiment 4); 2) When the probe face was morphed average face, the proportion for judging probe face as more attractive than group attractiveness was greater, comparing with the condition when the probe was a new face whose attractiveness was similar with the morphed average face (Experiment 2); 3) The performance for the hypothesized condition with average percept included in the set is in between the conditions with/without real average face included (Experiment 2-4). In addition, comparing with Experiment 1, the information accumulation speed in Experiment 2 is slower, the processing time of group attractiveness is longer, reflecting the disturbance of the individual face representation. In summary, the findings supported the hypothesis that group attractiveness is based on the morphed average face. Thus, the ensemble percept relies on the extraction from the average stimulus created from the group.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2021-02-18
Abstract： Previous research suggested that the attractiveness rating of a face tends to be similar to the attractiveness of its surrounding faces in the context, resulting in an assimilation effect. However, these results were usually based on the comparison among ratings of the target faces under different attractiveness contexts, without considering the attractiveness rating of the target face in isolation, and might lead to incorrect conclusion on the contextual influence on target evaluation. This study investigated the influence of duration and difference in attractiveness rating between the target and the context faces on the rating of target face. The assimilation effect was measured by taking mean rating of the same face in isolation as a reference value. The results found that attractiveness rating of the target face was similar to the attractiveness of its surrounding face in the context, and the differences between target and context faces led to a continuum effect in assimilation process, i.e., the more different in attractiveness rating between the target and the faces in the context, the smaller in the effect size of an assimilation was observed. " "
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2021-02-01
Abstract： The present research adopted a two-person ultimatum game and a three-person ultimatum game to examine the effect of vocal attractiveness of a male proposer and the effect of vocal attractiveness of a powerless male third player on decision-making. The results of Experiment 1 showed that the unfair offers from the proposers with attractive voices were more likely to be accepted compared with those from the proposers with unattractive voices. In Experiment 2, in the “unfair/fair” offer condition in which participants received a smaller allocation than the third player, the acceptance ratio was higher when the third player had an attractive-voice. In conclusion, vocal attractiveness can induce the "beauty premium" which was similar to the effect reported by previous research about facial attractiveness. "
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2018-03-22 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： People prefer beautiful visual artworks. Aesthetic experiences to beautiful and ugly images are different. Studies on neuroaesthetics showed different neural responses to beautiful stimuli compared to ugly stimuli. The first stage of aesthetic experience of a visual artwork is visual perception of the stimulus. Most research about aesthetic processing focused on stimuli presented consciously. Little is known about whether aesthetic processing can occur unconsciously. Previous research suggested that both beautiful paintings and attractive faces can elicit activation of the reward circuitry in our brain. Attractive faces break through continuous flash suppression more quickly than unattractive faces. Thus, it is possible that unconscious processing of beautiful paintings is different from that of less beautiful paintings. In two experiments, the present study adopted continuous flash suppression paradigm to investigate whether aesthetic ratings of western paintings influenced the time for stimuli to break suppression. We also compared the suppression effect of achromatic (Experiment 1) and chromatic (Experiment 2) noise pictures.
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