Not only the face matters: Influence of random noise backgrounds with different statistical properties on face attractiveness C Menzel1, C Redies1, O Langner2, G Hayn-Leichsenring1 |
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1Institute of Anatomy I, FSU Jena, Germany |
| The human visual system is adapted to processing the scale-invariant higher-order statistics of complex natural scenes efficiently. Previous studies found that man-made aesthetic images, such as visual art, art portraits and cartoons, share scale-invariant properties with natural scenes. Here, we investigated the influence of different random noise backgrounds on the subjective evaluation of face attractiveness. To this aim, we presented face images in front of backgrounds with five different slopes of the log-log Fourier power spectrum (slope 0, -1, -2, -3 and -4), in which high or low spatial frequencies were enhanced or attenuated, respectively. A slope of -2 indicates scale invariance. We found a significant quadratic influence of the background slope on the attractiveness ratings. Participants rated the same faces in front of an approximately scale-invariant background as more attractive than on the other backgrounds. This result shows that perceived attractiveness of faces can be modulated by higher-order image statistics that may be processed at early stages of visual perception. This modulation was observed even if the image of the face itself was not modified and, consequently, evolutionary adapted indicators of attractiveness, such as symmetry, averageness and secondary sexual characteristics, remained constant. |
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