Abstract
The effects of makeup on attractiveness have been evaluated using mainly subjective measures. In this study, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded from a total of 45 Japanese women (n = 23 and n = 22 for Experiment 1 and 2, respectively) to examine the neural processing of faces with no makeup, light makeup, and heavy makeup. To have the participants look at each face carefully, an identity judgement task was used: they were asked to judge whether the two faces presented in succession were of the same person or not. The ERP waveforms in response to the first faces were analyzed. In two experiments with different stimulus probabilities, the amplitudes of N170 and vertex positive potential (VPP) were smaller for faces with light makeup than for faces with heavy makeup or no makeup. The P1 amplitude did not differ between facial types. In a subsequent rating phase, faces with light makeup were rated as more attractive than faces with heavy makeup and no makeup. The results suggest that the processing fluency of faces with light makeup is one of the reasons why light makeup is preferred to heavy makeup and no makeup in daily life.
Highlights
Facial makeup, which is intended to accentuate one’s attractiveness to others, might be crucial for many women in their daily lives [1,2]
We investigated the influence of light makeup and heavy makeup on facial perception by means of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and ratings of attractiveness
This study examined how makeup influences the early components of ERPs (P1 and N170) in the facial recognition process using faces of the same female models with no makeup, light makeup, and heavy makeup
Summary
Facial makeup, which is intended to accentuate one’s attractiveness to others, might be crucial for many women in their daily lives [1,2]. When they wear makeup, women are usually interested in what type of makeup creates the most attractiveness and is most appealing. Women wear various kinds of makeup to look pretty, glamorous, or “cool” for purposes of self-identity and self-expression, which gives a certain impression to others depending on the social situation or context [3]. Women wear light or heavy makeup depending on the purpose and setting.
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