Hemispheric specialization in the assessment of female physical attractiveness

Abstract

Female physical attractiveness has been widely related to waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and body weight (BW). The present study was conducted to examine the role of hemispheric specialization in the perception of physical attractiveness. Drawings of female figures that differed in BW (underweight, normal and overweight) and WHR (0.7 and 1.0) were presented to both male and female subjects using the visual half-field technique. The stimuli were presented for an unusually short duration (180 msec). Under these conditions, male but not female subjects rated the various female figures as differing in attractiveness. Thus, male judgements of female attractiveness depended on weight and WHR. Reaction time and accuracy scores obtained from male subjects suggested that the left hemisphere (LH) was slower but more accurate than the right hemisphere in detecting differences in the attractiveness of the figures. Additionally, the most attractive figure was detected significantly more accurately than the least attractive figure when the figures were presented to the LH. The findings were discussed in terms of evolutionary views of sex differences in mate selection.

Keywords:

• Hemispheric asymmetry
• Waist-to-hip ratio
• Physical attractiveness
• Visual half-field technique
• Perceptual mechanisms in the judgement of physical attractiveness