PII] S99172821"85#999545 Brain asymmetry and facial attractiveness] Facial beauty is not simply in the eye of the beholder

Abstract*We recently reported _nding asymmetry in the appearance of beauty on the face Zaidel et al[ \ Neuropsycholo‘ia \ Vol [ 22\ pp [ 538544 \ 0884 [ Here \ we investigated whether facial beauty is a stable characteristic "on the owner|s very face # or is in the perceptual space of the observer [ We call the question {the owner vs observer hypothesis| [ We compared identity judgements and attractiveness ratings of observers [ Subjects viewed leftleft and rightright composites of faces and decided which most resembled the normal face "Experiment 0# [ Identity judgements "resemblance # are known to be associated with perceptual factors in the observer[ Another group viewed the same normal faces and rated them on attractiveness "Experiment 1# [ In each experiment \ there were two separate viewing conditions \ original and reversed "mirror!image# [ Lateral reversal did a}ect the results of Experiment 0 "con_rming previous _ndings Bennett et al[ \ Neuropsycholo‘ia \ Vol [ 14 \ pp [ 570576 \ 0876 ^ Gilbert and Bakan \ Journal of Anatomy \ Vol [ 072\ pp [ 482599 \ 0882 # but did not a}ect the results of Experiment 1 [ The fact that lateral reversal did not a}ect the results of Experiment 1 suggests that facial attractiveness is more dependent on physiognomy "of the owner # and less dependent on an asymmetrical perceptual process "in the observer # than is facial identity [ The results are discussed in the context of beauty|s biological signi_cance and facial processing in the brain [ 0886 Elsevier Science Ltd [ All rights reserved[ Key Words] face ^ beauty ^ face asymmetry ^ hemispheric specialization ^ aesthetics ^ evolution ^ facial physiognomy ^ brain asymmetry[ Introduction the right side is ipsilateral to the owner|s right hand [ The owner|s facial half ipsilateral to the owner|s left hand wil