Abstract
Vocal and facial cues typically co-occur in natural settings, and multisensory processing of voice and face relies on their synchronous presentation. Psychological research has examined various facial and vocal cues to attractiveness as well as to judgements of sexual dimorphism, health, and age. However, few studies have investigated the interaction of vocal and facial cues in attractiveness judgments under naturalistic conditions using dynamic, ecologically valid stimuli. Here, we used short videos or audio tracks of females speaking full sentences and used a manipulation of voice pitch to investigate cross-modal interactions of voice pitch on facial attractiveness and related ratings. Male participants had to rate attractiveness, femininity, age, and health of synchronized audio-video recordings or voices only, with either original or modified voice pitch. We expected audio stimuli with increased voice pitch to be rated as more attractive, more feminine, healthier, and younger. If auditory judgements cross-modally influence judgements of facial attributes, we additionally expected the voice pitch manipulation to affect ratings of audiovisual stimulus material. We tested 106 male participants in a within-subject design in two sessions. Analyses revealed that voice recordings with increased voice pitch were perceived to be more feminine and younger, but not more attractive or healthier. When coupled with video recordings, increased pitch lowered perceived age of faces, but did not significantly influence perceived attractiveness, femininity, or health. Our results suggest that our manipulation of voice pitch has a measurable impact on judgements of femininity and age, but does not measurably influence vocal and facial attractiveness in naturalistic conditions.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 911854 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-16 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Frontiers in Psychology |
Volume | 13 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 7 Jul 2022 |
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106018 Human biology
- 501001 General psychology
Keywords
- Face attractiveness
- voice
- face
- femininity
- health
- multisensory processing
- age
- cross-modal attractiveness
- sexual dimorphism
- FORMANT FREQUENCIES
- AVERAGENESS
- PERCEIVED ATTRACTIVENESS
- ATTRACTIVE FACES
- SYMMETRY
- MATE-CHOICE
- FACIAL ATTRACTIVENESS
- VOCAL ATTRACTIVENESS
- SEXUAL-DIMORPHISM
- CUES
Press/Media
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Austria Presse Agentur (APA): Hohe Stimme verjüngt Frauen in Köpfen der Männer
Christina Krumpholz, Cliodhna Quigley, Karsan Ameen, Christoph Reuter, Leonida Fusani & Helmut Leder
20/07/22
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities