Facially generated occlusal vertical dimension

Facial height has a profound effect on attractiveness. Occlusal vertical dimension (OVD) determines facial proportion at maximum intercuspation and influences facial dimension at rest. Deficient facial height visibly compromises optimal facial beauty. This article explores the dependent relationships between the OVD and facial esthetics, and discusses the role of facial analysis in determining an optimal OVD.     

Are attractive men's faces masculine or feminine? The importance of type of facial stimuli.

The authors investigated whether differences in facial stimuli could explain the inconsistencies in the facial attractiveness literature regarding whether adults prefer more masculine- or more feminine-looking male faces. Their results demonstrated that use of a female average to dimorphically transform a male facial average produced stimuli that did not accurately reflect the relationship between masculinity and attractiveness. In contrast, use of averages of masculine males and averages of feminine males produced stimuli that did accurately reflect the relationship between masculinity and attractiveness. Their findings suggest that masculinity contributes more to male facial attractiveness than does femininity, but future research should investigate how various combinations of facial cues contribute to male facial attractiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A neural basis for the retrieval of conceptual knowledge

Both clinical reports and systematic neuropsychological studies have shown that patients with damage to selected brain sites develop defects in the retrieval of conceptual knowledge for various concrete entities, leading to the hypothesis that the retrieval of knowledge for entities from different conceptual categories depends on partially segregated large-scale neural systems. To test this hypothesis, 116 subjects with focal, unilateral lesions to various sectors of the telencephalon, and 55 matched controls, were studied with a procedure which required the visual recognition of entities from three categories--unique persons, non-unique animals and non-unique tools. Defective recognition of persons was associated with maximal lesion overlap in right temporal polar region; defective recognition of animals was associated with maximal lesion overlap in right mesial occipital/ventral temporal region and also in left mesial occipital region; and defective recognition of tools was associated with maximal lesion overlap in the occipital-temporal-parietal junction of the left hemisphere. The findings support the hypothesis that the normal retrieval of knowledge for concrete entities from different conceptual domains depends on partially segregated neural systems. These sites may operate as catalysts for the retrieval of the multidimensional aspects of knowledge which are necessary and sufficient for the mental representation of a concept of a given entity.     

Class II correction with magnets and superelastic coils followed by straight-wire mechanotherapy. Occlusal changes during and after dental therapy

We investigated facial recognition memory (for previously unfamiliar faces) and facial expression perception with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Eight healthy, right-handed volunteers participated. For the facial recognition task, subjects made a decision as to the familiarity of each of 50 faces (25 previously viewed; 25 novel). We detected signal increase in the right middle temporal gyrus and left prefrontal cortex during presentation of familiar faces, and in several brain regions, including bilateral posterior cingulate gyri, bilateral insulae and right middle occipital cortex during presentation of unfamiliar faces. Standard facial expressions of emotion were used as stimuli in two further tasks of facial expression perception. In the first task, subjects were presented with alternating happy and neutral faces; in the second task, subjects were presented with alternating sad and neutral faces. During presentation of happy facial expressions, we detected a signal increase predominantly in the left anterior cingulate gyrus, bilateral posterior cingulate gyri, medial frontal cortex and right supramarginal gyrus, brain regions previously implicated in visuospatial and emotion processing tasks. No brain regions showed increased signal intensity during presentation of sad facial expressions. These results provide evidence for a distinction between the neural correlates of facial recognition memory and perception of facial expression but, whilst highlighting the role of limbic structures in perception of happy facial expressions, do not allow the mapping of a distinct neural substrate for perception of sad facial expressions.     

Dissociating averageness and attractiveness: Attractive faces are not always average.

Although the averageness hypothesis of facial attractiveness proposes that the attractiveness of faces is mostly a consequence of their averageness, 1 study has shown that caricaturing highly attractive faces makes them mathematically less average but more attractive. Here the authors systematically test the averageness hypothesis in 5 experiments using both rating and visual adaptation paradigms. Visual adaptation has previously been shown to increase both preferences for previously viewed face types (i.e., attractiveness) and their perceived normality (i.e., averageness). The authors used a visual adaptation procedure to test whether facial attractiveness is dependent upon faces' proximity to average (averageness hypothesis) or their location relative to average along an attractiveness dimension in face space (contrast hypothesis). While the typical pattern of change due to visual adaptation was found for judgments of normality, judgments of attractiveness resulted in a very different pattern. The results of these 5 experiments conclusively support the proposal that there are specific nonaverage characteristics that are particularly attractive. The authors discuss important implications for the interpretation of studies using a visual adaptation paradigm to investigate attractiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Functional anatomy of pointing and grasping in humans

The functional anatomy of reaching and grasping simple objects was determined in nine healthy subjects with positron emission tomography imaging of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF). In a prehension (grasping) task, subjects reached and grasped illuminated cylindrical objects with their right hand. In a pointing task, subjects reached and pointed over the same targets. In a control condition subjects looked at the targets. Both movement tasks increased activity in a distributed set of cortical and subcortical sites: contralateral motor, premotor, ventral supplementary motor area (SMA), cingulate, superior parietal, and dorsal occipital cortex. Cortical areas including cuneate and dorsal occipital cortex were more extensively activated than ventral occipital or temporal pathways. The left parietal operculum (putative SII) was recruited during grasping but not pointing. Blood flow changes were individually localized with respect to local cortical anatomy using sulcal landmarks. Consistent anatomic landmarks from MRI scans could be identified to locate sensorimotor, ventral SMA, and SII blood flow increases. The time required to complete individual movements and the amount of movement made during imaging correlated positively with the magnitude of rCBF increases during grasping in the contralateral inferior sensorimotor, cingulate, and ipsilateral inferior temporal cortex, and bilateral anterior cerebellum. This functional-anatomic study defines a cortical system for "pragmatic' manipulation of simple neutral objects.     

Frontal Lobe Activation During Object Alternation Acquisition.

Object alternation (OA) tasks are increasingly used as probes of ventral prefrontal functioning in humans. In the most common variant of the OA task, subjects must deduce the task rule through trial-and-error learning. To examine the neural correlates of OA acquisition, the authors measured regional cerebral blood flow with positron emission tomography while subjects acquired an OA task, performed a sensorimotor control condition, or performed already learned and practiced OA. As expected, activations emerged in the ventral prefrontal cortex. However, activation of the presupplemental motor area was more closely associated with successful task performance. The authors suggest that areas beyond the ventral prefrontal cortex are critically involved in OA acquisition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analysis of neural interactions explains the activation of occipital cortex by an auditory stimulus

Analysis of neural interactions explains the activation of occipital cortex by an auditory stimulus. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 2790-2796, 1998. Large-scale neural interactions were characterized in human subjects as they learned that an auditory stimulus signaled a visual event. Once learned, activation of left dorsal occipital cortex (increased regional cerebral blood flow) was observed when the auditory stimulus was presented alone. Partial least-squares analysis of the interregional correlations (functional connectivity) between the occipital area and the rest of the brain identified a pattern of covariation with four dominant brain areas that could have mediated this activation: prefrontal cortex (near Brodmann area 10, A10), premotor cortex (A6), superior temporal cortex (A41/42), and contralateral occipital cortex (A18). Interactions among these regions and the occipital area were quantified with structural equation modeling to identify the strongest sources of the effect on left occipital activity (effective connectivity). Learning-related changes in feedback effects from A10 and A41/42 appeared to account for this change in occipital activity. Influences from these areas on the occipital area were initially suppressive, or negative, becoming facilitory, or positive, as the association between the auditory and visual stimuli was acquired. Evaluating the total effects within the functional models showed positive influences throughout the network, suggesting enhanced interactions may have primed the system for the now-expected visual discrimination. By characterizing both changes in activity and the interactions underlying sensory associative learning, we demonstrated how parts of the nervous system operate as a cohesive network in learning about and responding to the environment.     

"Their ideas of beauty are, on the whole, the same as ours": Consistency and variability in the cross-cultural perception of female physical attractiveness.

The consistency of physical attractiveness ratings across cultural groups was examined. In Study 1, recently arrived native Asian and Hispanic students and White Americans rated the attractiveness of Asian, Hispanic, Black, and White photographed women. The mean correlation between groups in attractiveness ratings was r?=?.93. Asians, Hispanics, and Whites were equally influenced by many facial features, but Asians were less influenced by some sexual maturity and expressive features. In Study 2, Taiwanese attractiveness ratings correlated with prior Asian, Hispanic, and American ratings, mean r?=?.91. Supporting Study 1, the Taiwanese also were less positively influenced by certain sexual maturity and expressive features. Exposure to Western media did not influence attractiveness ratings in either study. In Study 3, Black and White American men rated the attractiveness of Black female facial photos and body types. Mean facial attractiveness ratings were highly correlated (r?=?.94), but as predicted Blacks and Whites varied in judging bodies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

You're only as pretty as you feel: Facial expression as a determinant of physical attractiveness.

In Exp I, photos of 15 female target persons posing happy, neutral, and sad facial expressions were rated by 257 undergraduates for facial attractiveness using paired comparisons and Likert scales. Half of the raters were instructed to compensate for the effects of facial expression. Paired comparisons and Likert ratings were highly correlated. Target persons were less attractive when posing sad expressions than when posing neutral or happy expressions, which did not differ. In addition, independent ratings of 4 dimensions of the target persons' facial expression were obtained: pleasantness, surprise, intensity, and naturalness. Changes in these dimensions from the neutral to the happy and sad expressions and the corresponding changes in attractiveness were consistently related only to pleasantness, supporting the reinforcement-affect theory of attraction. Exp II, with 21 male undergraduates, related overall attractiveness to facial and bodily attractiveness. Both facial and bodily attractiveness were predictive of overall attractiveness, but the face was a slightly more powerful predictor. Results are discussed with respect to the stability of physical attractiveness, and alternative explanations of the mental-illness/physical-unattractiveness relation are proposed. (54 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review.

Common maxims about beauty suggest that attractiveness is not important in life. In contrast, both fitness-related evolutionary theory and socialization theory suggest that attractiveness influences development and interaction. In 11 meta-analyses, the authors evaluate these contradictory claims, demonstrating that (a) raters agree about who is and is not attractive, both within and across cultures; (b) attractive children and adults are judged more positively than unattractive children and adults, even by those who know them; (c) attractive children and adults are treated more positively than unattractive children and adults, even by those who know them; and (d) attractive children and adults exhibit more positive behaviors and traits than unattractive children and adults. Results are used to evaluate social and fitness-related evolutionary theories and the veracity of maxims about beauty. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Eye-mouth-eye angle as a good indicator of face masculinization, asymmetry, and attractiveness (Homo sapiens).

Past research on male facial attractiveness has been limited by the reliance on facialmetric measures that are less than ideal. In particular, some of these measures are face size dependent and show only weak sexual dimorphism, which limits the ability to identify the relationship between masculinization and attractiveness. Here, the authors show that eye-mouth-eye (EME) angle is a quantitative and face size independent trait that is sexually dimorphic and a good indicator of masculinity and face symmetry. Using frontal photographs of female and male faces, the authors first confirmed that the EME angle (measured with the vertex in the middle of the mouth and the arms crossing the centers of pupils) was highly sexually dimorphic. Then, using pictures of young male faces whose attractiveness was assessed on a 7-point scale by young women, the authors showed that attractiveness rate was negatively correlated with EME angle and with the angle asymmetry. The results are compared with those that could be obtained with interpupilary or upper face height measurements. The authors discuss the relationship between attractiveness and both EME angle and its symmetry in the light of evolutionary psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quantitative analyses for facial nerve MR imaging

It is clear, from our clinical experience, that the facial nerve in patients with facial palsy is enhanced on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging after intravenous administration of gadolinium diethylenetriamine. However, some problems with clinical reliability persist. There have been reports that normal facial nerves often show enhancement on MR imaging. We also question whether there are any differences in the degree of enhancement between Bell's palsy and Ramsay Hunt syndrome. To solve these problems, analyses were conducted using a personal computer by means of digital image-processing to measure the gray scale levels of enhanced facial nerves on MR imaging films. Seventeen cases of Bell's palsy, eight cases of Ramsay Hunt syndrome and fourteen normal subjects whose facial nerves showed enhancement on MR imaging were selected for the analyses. The concept of a facial nerve/whole image ratio (F/W ratio), analyzing the degree of enhancement of the facial nerve quantitatively, is introduced in this paper. The F/W ratio is the ratio of the gray scale level of the facial nerve region to the highest gray scale level in the skull at the MR imaging film. When the F/W ratios of these subjects were analyzed, no significant differences were found between Bell's Palsy and Ramsay Hunt syndrome in the degree of enhancement; facial palsy cases showed quantitatively larger F/W ratios than normal subjects.     

Facial expressions of emotion influence memory for facial identity in an automatic way.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 7(4) of Emotion (see record 2007-17748-022). The image printed for Figure 3 was incorrect. The correct image is provided in the erratum.] Previous studies indicate that the encoding of new facial identities in memory is influenced by the type of expression displayed by the faces. In the current study, the authors investigated whether or not this influence requires attention to be explicitly directed toward the affective meaning of facial expressions. In a first experiment, the authors found that facial identity was better recognized when the faces were initially encountered with a happy rather than an angry expression, even when attention was oriented toward facial features other than expression. Using the Remember/Know/Guess paradigm in a second experiment, the authors found that the influence of facial expressions on the conscious recollection of facial identity was even more pronounced when participants' attention was not directed toward expressions. It is suggested that the affective meaning of facial expressions automatically modulates the encoding of facial identity in memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond initial attraction: Physical attractiveness in newlywed marriage.

Physical appearance plays a crucial role in shaping new relationships, but does it continue to affect established relationships, such as marriage? In the current study, the authors examined how observer ratings of each spouse's facial attractiveness and the difference between those ratings were associated with (a) observations of social support behavior and (b) reports of marital satisfaction. In contrast to the robust and almost universally positive effects of levels of attractiveness on new relationships, the only association between levels of attractiveness and the outcomes of these marriages was that attractive husbands were less satisfied. Further, in contrast to the importance of matched attractiveness to new relationships, similarity in attractiveness was unrelated to spouses' satisfaction and behavior. Instead, the relative difference between partners' levels of attractiveness appeared to be most important in predicting marital behavior, such that both spouses behaved more positively in relationships in which wives were more attractive than their husbands, but they behaved more negatively in relationships in which husbands were more attractive than their wives. These results highlight the importance of dyadic examinations of the effects of spouses' qualities on their marriages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facial affect recognition training in autism: Can we animate the fusiform gyrus?

One of the most consistent findings in the neuroscience of autism is hypoactivation of the fusiform gyrus (FG) during face processing. In this study the authors examined whether successful facial affect recognition training is associated with an increased activation of the FG in autism. The effect of a computer-based program to teach facial affect identification was examined in 10 individuals with high-functioning autism. Blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) changes in the FG and other regions of interest, as well as behavioral facial affect recognition measures, were assessed pre- and posttraining. No significant activation changes in the FG were observed. Trained participants showed behavioral improvements, which were accompanied by higher BOLD fMRI signals in the superior parietal lobule and maintained activation in the right medial occipital gyrus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Symmetry and perceived facial attractiveness: A monozygotic co-twin comparison.

Symmetry is a major correlate of physical attractiveness across species, including humans. Investigating the nature of this relationship has been difficult, however, for several reasons, including the facts that variance in symmetry is attributable to more than one source and is often correlated with other variables related to attractiveness. This study assessed the role of facial symmetry in relation to perceptions of facial attractiveness. Some of the natural covariates of symmetry were controlled for by comparing the symmetry and attractiveness differentials between monozygotic co-twins, who are genetically, but not developmentally, identical. The more symmetric twin of a pair was consistently rated as more attractive, and the magnitude of the difference between twins in perceived attractiveness was directly related to the magnitude of the difference in symmetry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Facial expressions of emotion influence memory for facial identity in an automatic way": Correction to D'Argembeau and Van der Linden (2007).

Reports an error in "Facial expressions of emotion influence memory for facial identity in an automatic way" by Arnaud D'Argembeau and Martial Van der Linden (Emotion, 2007[Aug], Vol 7[3], 507-515). The image printed for Figure 3 was incorrect. The correct image is provided in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2007-11660-005.) Previous studies indicate that the encoding of new facial identities in memory is influenced by the type of expression displayed by the faces. In the current study, the authors investigated whether or not this influence requires attention to be explicitly directed toward the affective meaning of facial expressions. In a first experiment, the authors found that facial identity was better recognized when the faces were initially encountered with a happy rather than an angry expression, even when attention was oriented toward facial features other than expression. Using the Remember/Know/Guess paradigm in a second experiment, the authors found that the influence of facial expressions on the conscious recollection of facial identity was even more pronounced when participants' attention was not directed toward expressions. It is suggested that the affective meaning of facial expressions automatically modulates the encoding of facial identity in memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotypic personality inferences following objective versus subjective judgments of beauty.

In 2 experiments, 120 male college students were led to believe either that their judgments of female targets' attractiveness were caused by the women's physical characteristics (objective judgments) or that these judgments were the result of their own personal preferences (subjected judgments). It was hypothesized that if the attractiveness stereotype rests on perceiver's implicit assumption that beauty constitutes a reliable and unbiased criterion from which to infer other characteristics (personality traits), then stereotyping would be less extreme when attractiveness was seen as subjective. Although manipulation checks showed that objectivity–subjectivity was effectively manipulated, Ss in all conditions made personality inferences that were consistent with the attractiveness stereotype (i.e., significantly more favorable for attractive than unattractive targets). Results suggest that utilization of the attractiveness stereotype to generate personality predictions is covert and not amenable to influence by perceivers' conscious attributions about the cause of their attractiveness judgments. (French abstract) (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)