Electrophysiological evidence of perceived sexual attractiveness for human female bodies varying in waist-to-hip ratio

Abstract

The dynamics of brain activation reflecting attractiveness in humans are unclear. Among the different features affecting attractiveness of the female body, the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is considered to be crucial. To date, however, no eventrelated potential (ERP) study has addressed the question of its associated pattern of brain activation. We carried out two different experiments: (a) a behavioural study, to judge the level of attractiveness of female realistic models depicting 4 different WHRs (0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9) with and without clothes; (b) an EEG paradigm, to record brain activity while participants (heterosexual men and women) viewed these same models. Behavioural results showed that WHRs of 0.7 were considered more attractive than the others. ERP analyses revealed a different pattern of activation for male and female viewers. The 0.7 ratio elicited greater positivity at the P1 level in male viewers but not females. Naked bodies increased the N190 in both groups and peaked earlier for the 0.7 ratio in the male viewers. Finally, the late positive component (LPC) was found to be greater in male than in female viewers and was globally more marked for naked bodies as well as WHRs of 0.7 in both groups of viewers. These results provide the first electrophysiological evidence of specific time periods linked to the processing of a body feature denoting attractiveness and therefore playing a role in mate choice.

Waist‐to‐hip ratio affects female body attractiveness and modulates early brain responses

“…The behavioural ratings of the different WHRs observed in the present investigation corroborate previous studies in the field (e.g. Singh, 1993;Singh & Young, 1995;Henss, 2000;Furnham et al, 2005;Dixson et al, 2010;Del Zotto & Pegna, 2017) and confirm that WHR substantially influences the perceived attractiveness of a human female body, with values at, or close to 0.7 being considered as most attractive. As described in the Introduction, similar findings have been reported in the literature, beginning with a seminal paper by Singh (1993).…”

“…Unexpectedly, the time period of the WHR effect is slightly at odds with our previous study using computer-generated bodies (Del Zotto & Pegna, 2017), which revealed an earlier effect. In fact, in our previous investigation, the more attractive WHR (0.7) produced a difference at the P1 level in a group of male participants, although both groups showed an increase of the N170, as well as at the LPC (300-450 ms) for ratios 0.6 and 0.7, compared to the WHRs of 0.8 and 0.9.…”

“…Stimuli were presented in a random order at the centre of the screen using E-Prime 2.0 (https://pstnet.com/). Participants were asked to judge the attractiveness of female bodies using the same procedure as in a previous study (Del Zotto & Pegna, 2017). Briefly, the bodies were presented on the screen along with a scale (a horizontal line) below, which represented a continuous analogical measure with 5 points clearly indicated (i.e., a Likert scale indicating 1 = not at all attractive; 2 = a little; 3 = somewhat; 4 = very; 5 = extremely attractive).…”

Waist‐to‐Hip Ratio Sensitivity in Early Infancy

“…Also, the WHR of 0.7 appears to have special significance for female stimuli as it is commonly judged as the most attractive (Singh & Singh, ). A recent study replicated the preference for 0.7 using behavioural measures as well as event related potentials (Zotto & Pegna, ). Specifically, compared to other WHRs, both male and female adults rated females with a 0.7 WHR as more attractive and demonstrated a greater late positive component (LPC) when viewing 0.7 WHRs.…”

Eating Disorders: An Evolutionary Psychoneuroimmunological Approach

“…(2) The intrasexual competition hypothesis (Abed, 1998) suggests that the ultimate cause of eating disorders is intense intrasexual competition for mates. This hypothesis recognizes that a woman’s body shape is an indicator of her reproductive history, reproductive potential and mate value, partly signaled by waist-to-hip ratio and body mass index (BMI) (Andrews et al, 2017; Del Zotto and Pegna, 2017). As women age and/or reproduce, they tend to gain body mass and lose the hourglass body shape (Butovskaya et al, 2017) which is a sexually desirable trait for men (e.g., Bovet, 2019).…”