TALK: Dr Ian Stephen - Facial shape predicts aspects of health
|
|
Dr Ian Stephen - Facial shape predicts aspects of health : A geometric morphometric modelling study |
Other events...
|
Several aspects of facial appearance contribute to attractiveness, including shape cues such as symmetry (Grammer & Thornhill, 1994), averageness (Rhodes, Zebrowitz, et al., 2001) and sexual dimorphism (Thornhill & Gangestad, 1999). It has been suggested that these facial cues represent cues to underlying health, thereby conferring an evolutionary advantage to individuals who find these cues attractive. The link between facial cues and health is therefore central to evolutionary explanations of attractiveness. However, studies linking facial cues directly to health are infrequent (Coetzee, Perrett, & Stephen, 2009), and have varying levels of success (Lawson, Pound, Penton-Voak, & Richmond, 2011; Rhodes, Zebrowitz, et al., 2001; Rhodes, Chan, Zebrowitz, & Simmons, 2003; Thornhill & Gangestad, 2006). In the current study, we apply geometric morphometric methodology to facial shape data to produce models that successfully predict aspects of underlying health – percentage body fat, body mass index (BMI; weight scaled for height) and blood pressure. Predicted values of BMI and blood pressure, but not percentage body fat, correlate with health ratings, and predicted values of health ratings correlate with these two measured health variables. This suggests that facial shape provides a valid cue to health, and may pave the way for non-invasive automated screening for cardiac disease risk
Speaker(s) |
Dr Ian Stephen - Macquarie University
|
Location |
G40, North Block, Psychology Building
|
|
Contact |
Libby Taylor
<[email protected]>
: 6488 3573
|
Start |
Thu, 26 Jun 2014 12:00
|
End |
Thu, 26 Jun 2014 13:00
|
Submitted by |
Linda Jeffery <[email protected]>
|
Last Updated |
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 08:37
|
Included in the following Calendars: |
|
- Locations of venues on the Crawley and Nedlands campuses are
available via the Campus Maps website.
- Download this event as:
Text |
iCalendar
-
Mail this event:
|