Abstract
Examining the extent to which sex differences in three-dimensional (3D) facial soft tissue configurations are similar across diverse populations could suggest the source of the indirect evolutionary benefits of facial sexual dimorphism traits. To explore this idea, we selected two geographically distinct populations. Three-dimensional model faces were derived from 272 Turkish and Japanese men and women; their facial morphologies were evaluated using landmark and surface-based analyses. We found four common facial features related to sexual dimorphism. Both Turkish and Japanese females had a shorter lower face height, a flatter forehead, greater sagittal cheek protrusion in the infraorbital region but less prominence of the cheek in the parotid-masseteric region, and an antero-posteriorly smaller nose when compared with their male counterparts. The results indicated the possible phylogenetic contribution of the masticatory organ function and morphogenesis on sexual dimorphism of the human face in addition to previously reported biological and psychological characteristics, including sexual maturity, reproductive potential, mating success, general health, immune response, age, and personality.
Highlights
Examining the extent to which sex differences in facial soft tissue configurations are similar across diverse populations may suggest the source of the indirect evolutionary benefits of facial sexual dimorphism traits
The results of the sectional-line-and-landmark-based analysis are shown in Supplementary Tables S1, S2, and S3, and summarized in Table 2 and Supplementary Text S1. Both Turkish and Japanese females had (1) a shorter lower face height, (2) a flatter forehead, (3) greater sagittal cheek protrusion in the posterior part of the infraorbital region but less prominence of the cheek in the parotid-masseteric region, and (4) an antero-posteriorly smaller nose, with a greater retrusion of the subnasal region when compared with their male counterparts
Greater eye height is deemed an important factor for facial attractiveness in other populations, the present results indicate that eye height is a visible facial sexual dimorphism that is more discriminatory in the Japanese subjects than the Turkish subjects
Summary
Examining the extent to which sex differences in three-dimensional (3D) facial soft tissue configurations are similar across diverse populations could suggest the source of the indirect evolutionary benefits of facial sexual dimorphism traits. To explore this idea, we selected two geographically distinct populations. A study of the zygomatic bone shape was extracted from the computer tomography data of 98 Chinese and 96 Germans; it was found that population-related shape differences were captured primarily and sexual dimorphism were less distinct compared with the population d ifferences[9] Another s tudy[10] examined a sample of modern human crania (n = 281) designed to represent modern human geographic variations, as well as diverse subsistence activities, that can be subdivided into 14 main regional/genetic groups; they reported that robusticity of the cranial shape between males and females, was consistently different in different populations. There is still some consistency in the direction of morphological changes associated with dimorphism
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