The breakthrough research from Taylor & Francis, published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, sheds new light on the importance of skin colour as a determiner of facial attractiveness.
And, according to researchers, carotenoid coloration has the upper hand over melanisation when it comes to the rules of attraction.
"Skin colouration can arise as a result of two distinct processes," explain the team leading the research.
These two processes are defined as tanning or melanisation, or the assimilation of fruit and vegetables known as carotenoid ingestion.
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While it is known that red and yellow pigments found in bright fruit and vegetables increase skin yellowness, recent studies have shown that "carotenoid coloration is a more important factor in healthy appearance than melanin coloration," clarify the academics.
The team then set about determining the importance of skin colour in judgements of facial attractiveness, as well as mate choices, in three separate internet-based studies; also examining the importance of high levels of carotenoids and melanin in attraction choices.
The latter point of establishing the preference for one pigment over the other in judging the appeal of a face was also crucial to the research, say the scientists, as it exposes "the importance of carotenoid coloration as a cue to current health and attractiveness, [a fact that] may be pivotal in mate choices.”
Testing
In the first two studies, two separate groups of 60 participants were shown 27 base faces, specifically created for the purpose of testing.
Through colour manipulation, the skin area of these composite faces was altered alongside the axis of carotenoid or melanin-associated derma colours.
High and low pigment versions of each face were shown in pairs to the partakers, who had to indicate which one they thought more attractive.
Results from both studies showed a clear preference for strong color values; 86% of the attendants to the first study voted for the high carotenoid version, while 78.5% of the participants to the second one opted for the high melanin variant.
In a third and final study, the team pitched 24 high carotenoid and high melanin faces against each other, asking attendants to choose the one deemed more appealing; results showed a 75.9% preference for carotenoid colouring over the melanin one.
Read the full article online:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17470218.2014.944194