Identifying cognitive preferences for attractive female faces: An event-related potential experiment using a study-test paradigm

In this experiment, sensitivity to female facial attractiveness was examined by comparing event‐related potentials (ERPs) in response to attractive and unattractive female faces within a study‐test paradigm. Fourteen heterosexual participants (age range 18–24 years, mean age 21.67 years) were required to judge 84 attractive and 84 unattractive face images as either “attractive” or “unattractive.” They were then asked whether they had previously viewed each face in a recognition task in which 50% of the images were novel. Analyses indicated that attractive faces elicited more enhanced ERP amplitudes than did unattractive faces in judgment (N300 and P350–550 msec) and recognition (P160 and N250–400 msec and P400–700 msec) tasks on anterior locations. Moreover, longer reaction times and higher accuracy rate were observed in identifying attractive faces than unattractive faces. In sum, this research identified neural and behavioral bases related to cognitive preferences for judging and recognizing attractive female faces. Explanations for the results are that attractive female faces arouse more intense positive emotions in participants than do unattractive faces, and they also represent reproductive fitness and mating value from the evolutionary perspective. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.