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Occlusion of faces by sanitary masks improves facial attractiveness of other races

Recent studies provide mixed results regarding whether the perception of facial attractiveness is increased or decreased by partial occlusion with a sanitary mask. One set of studies demonstrated that occluding the bottom half of a face increased facial attractiveness. This effect is thought to occu...

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Autores principales: Kamatani, Miki, Miyazaki, Yuki, Kawahara, Jun I.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9878602/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36710777
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.953389
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author Kamatani, Miki
Miyazaki, Yuki
Kawahara, Jun I.
author_facet Kamatani, Miki
Miyazaki, Yuki
Kawahara, Jun I.
author_sort Kamatani, Miki
collection PubMed
description Recent studies provide mixed results regarding whether the perception of facial attractiveness is increased or decreased by partial occlusion with a sanitary mask. One set of studies demonstrated that occluding the bottom half of a face increased facial attractiveness. This effect is thought to occur because the occluded area is interpolated by an average facial representation that is perceived as attractive. However, several groups of studies showed that partial occlusion can increase or decrease perceived attractiveness depending on the attractiveness of the original (unoccluded) face, due to regression to the mean. To reconcile this inconsistency, we propose that the occluded area is interpolated not by an average facial representation, but by a template of moderate attractiveness, shaped by the distribution of each viewer’s experience. This hypothesis predicts an interaction between occlusion and the attractiveness of the original face so that occluded attractive faces are rated as less attractive, while occluded unattractive faces are rated as more attractive. To examine this hypothesis, the present study used attractiveness-rating tasks with mask-free versus masked faces in own-race and other-races categories. Viewers were familiar with own-race faces and unfamiliar with other-races faces. If moderate-attractiveness interpolation were the explanatory factor, the interaction between the occlusion and the attractiveness of the original face should be found only in the rating of own-race faces. Consistent with this hypothesis, the interaction between the occlusion and the attractiveness of the original faces was significant only for the own-race faces. Specifically, wearing a sanitary mask decreased the facial attractiveness of attractive faces in the own-race, while it increased the attractiveness regardless of the level of facial attractiveness in other-races. These findings suggest that the occluded area of own-race faces is interpolated by a facial template of moderate attractiveness. The other-races template could be developed using familiar exemplars such as celebrities. Thus, interpolation by such a template should result in elevated attractiveness relative to that by an own-race template. Accordingly, the apparent inconsistency in the literature regarding the effect of partial occlusion on physical attractiveness can be explained in terms of differences in the template involving interpolation of the occluded area.
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spelling pubmed-98786022023-01-27 Occlusion of faces by sanitary masks improves facial attractiveness of other races Kamatani, Miki Miyazaki, Yuki Kawahara, Jun I. Front Psychol Psychology Recent studies provide mixed results regarding whether the perception of facial attractiveness is increased or decreased by partial occlusion with a sanitary mask. One set of studies demonstrated that occluding the bottom half of a face increased facial attractiveness. This effect is thought to occur because the occluded area is interpolated by an average facial representation that is perceived as attractive. However, several groups of studies showed that partial occlusion can increase or decrease perceived attractiveness depending on the attractiveness of the original (unoccluded) face, due to regression to the mean. To reconcile this inconsistency, we propose that the occluded area is interpolated not by an average facial representation, but by a template of moderate attractiveness, shaped by the distribution of each viewer’s experience. This hypothesis predicts an interaction between occlusion and the attractiveness of the original face so that occluded attractive faces are rated as less attractive, while occluded unattractive faces are rated as more attractive. To examine this hypothesis, the present study used attractiveness-rating tasks with mask-free versus masked faces in own-race and other-races categories. Viewers were familiar with own-race faces and unfamiliar with other-races faces. If moderate-attractiveness interpolation were the explanatory factor, the interaction between the occlusion and the attractiveness of the original face should be found only in the rating of own-race faces. Consistent with this hypothesis, the interaction between the occlusion and the attractiveness of the original faces was significant only for the own-race faces. Specifically, wearing a sanitary mask decreased the facial attractiveness of attractive faces in the own-race, while it increased the attractiveness regardless of the level of facial attractiveness in other-races. These findings suggest that the occluded area of own-race faces is interpolated by a facial template of moderate attractiveness. The other-races template could be developed using familiar exemplars such as celebrities. Thus, interpolation by such a template should result in elevated attractiveness relative to that by an own-race template. Accordingly, the apparent inconsistency in the literature regarding the effect of partial occlusion on physical attractiveness can be explained in terms of differences in the template involving interpolation of the occluded area. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-01-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9878602/ /pubmed/36710777 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.953389 Text en Copyright © 2023 Kamatani, Miyazaki and Kawahara. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Kamatani, Miki
Miyazaki, Yuki
Kawahara, Jun I.
Occlusion of faces by sanitary masks improves facial attractiveness of other races
title Occlusion of faces by sanitary masks improves facial attractiveness of other races
title_full Occlusion of faces by sanitary masks improves facial attractiveness of other races
title_fullStr Occlusion of faces by sanitary masks improves facial attractiveness of other races
title_full_unstemmed Occlusion of faces by sanitary masks improves facial attractiveness of other races
title_short Occlusion of faces by sanitary masks improves facial attractiveness of other races
title_sort occlusion of faces by sanitary masks improves facial attractiveness of other races
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9878602/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36710777
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.953389
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