Selective influence of the menstrual cycle on perception of stimuli with reproductive significance

http://scholar.google.com/url?sa=U&q=http://journals.cambridge.org/article_S0048577200980594

Personality ratings of photos

Do women have a hidden heat period? -- Tar�n and G�mez-Piquer 17 (9): 2243 -- Human Reproduction

Do women have a hidden heat period? -- Tar�n and G�mez-Piquer 17 (9): 2243 -- Human Reproduction

Male facial attractiveness: Evidence for Hormone medicated adaptive design

Menstrual cycle

http://scholar.google.com/url?sa=U&q=http://evolution.anthro.univie.ac.at/institutes/urbanethology/pdf/johnston.pdf

Menstrual cycle alters face preference

Nature 399, 741 - 742 (24 June 1999); doi:10.1038/21557

Menstrual cycle alters face preference

I. S. PENTON-VOAK*, D. I. PERRETT*, D. L. CASTLES††, T. KOBAYASHI†, D. M. BURT*, L. K. MURRAY* & R. MINAMISAWA†

* School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JU, UK
e-mail: ip@st-and.ac.uk
† Hasegawa Laboratory, Department of Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, Komaba, Tokyo 153, Japan
‡ School of Life Sciences, Roehampton Institute London, Whitelands College, London SW15 3SN, UK

Women prefer slightly feminized male facial shapes. Such faces (Fig. 1a) are given positive personality attributions that might correlate with actual behaviour. In contrast, masculine features seem to signal immunological competence. Heritable benefits can be realized only if conception follows copulation, so women might be more attentive to phenotypic markers indicating immunological competence during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle when conception is most likely,. Consistent with this hypothesis is the observation that women's preference for the odour of men with low fluctuating asymmetry (a correlate of testosterone-facilitated trait size and developmental stability) increases with the probability of conception across the menstrual cycle.Symmetrical men report more extra-pair copulation partners, and extra-pair copulation rates peak in midcycle. Here we show that female preference for secondary sexual traits in male face shapes varies with the probability of conception across the menstrual cycle.





Menstrual cycle alters face preference

Finger length predicts physically aggressive personalities, study shows

Finger length predicts physically aggressive personalities, study shows