Is Beauty Found in the Whites of the Eyes? 'Red Eyes' Associated With the Sad and Unattractive

Is Beauty Found in the Whites of the Eyes? 'Red Eyes' Associated With the Sad and Unattractive

  10:17:00 AM    Science Lover

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Beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder, but a new study reveals that the reverse is also true; unattractiveness is in the eye of the beheld. Research published in Ethology finds that people with bloodshot eyes are considered sadder, unhealthier and less attractive than people whose eye whites are untinted, a cue which is uniquely human.

Eye images of a young adult female (left) and male (right). In the top images the sclera are white and in the bottom images the eyes have been digitally altered. In the study subjects rated 200 such images. (Credit: R.Provine)

"Red, 'bloodshot' eyes are prominent in medical diagnoses and in folk culture," said lead author Dr. Robert R. Provine from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. "We wanted to know if they influence the everyday behaviour and attitudes of those who view them, and if they trigger perceptions of attractiveness."

Bloodshot eyes occur when the small blood vessels of the usually transparent conjunctiva membrane on the surface of the eye become enlarged and congested with blood, giving a red tint to the underlying sclera, the "white" of the eyes. Redness of the sclera is believed to be a general but important sign of a person's emotional and biological state.

"If you met a friend with bloodshot eyes it may be unclear whether you should offer sympathy or medical assistance because red eyes may be a result of weeping, allergies or infectious diseases," said Provine. "Comments from our colleagues also suggest that red eyes prompt feelings of discomfort, ranging from increased monitoring of their own eyes to a hint of sympathetic tearing."

In the first empirical test to discover the perceptions and behavioural implications of red eyes Dr. Provine's team tested 208 volunteer students from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The volunteers composed of 93 males and 115 females, with an average age of 20.6 years.

The volunteers were shown 200 images of eyes, half with clear white sclera and half with sclera tinted red by digital image processing. The volunteers were asked how sad, healthy or attractive the owners of the eyes were. The results revealed that people with reddened eyes appear sadder, less healthy, and less attractive compared to those with whiter, untinted eyes.

This is the first study to demonstrate that eye redness is perceived as a cue of emotion. Humans appear to be the only species which uses eye colouration as an indicator of either health or emotion. This is because other primates lack the background of white sclera necessary to make the reddened conjunctiva visible.

Sclera colour provides even casual, untrained observers with a quick estimate of the emotional and health status of an individual and the study's ratings of attractiveness suggest that this information does influence our behaviour.

"Standards of beauty vary across cultures, however, youth and healthiness are always in fashion because they are associated with reproductive fitness," said Provine. "Traits such as long, lustrous hair and smooth or scar-free skin are cues of youth and offer the beholder a partial record of health.

Now clear eye whites join these traits as a universal standard for the perception of beauty and a cue of health and reproductive fitness. Given this discovery, eye drops that 'get the red out' can be considered beauty aids."

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Synesthetic Experiences, Such as Seeing a Certain Color Associated With a Number, Are Real and Automatic

Synesthetic Experiences, Such as Seeing a Certain Color Associated With a Number, Are Real and Automatic

  9:57:00 AM    Science Lover

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For as many as 1 in 20 people, everyday experiences can elicit extra-ordinary associated sensations. The condition is known as synaesthesia and the most common form involves "seeing" colours when reading words and numbers. Many previous studies have shown that the brains of people who experience this phenomenon are different from those who do not and, in a new study reported in the February 2010 issue of Cortex, researchers from the University of Padova, Italy, have discovered that learning may also play an important role in synaesthesia and can lead to synaesthetic behaviour even when the person is not consciously aware of the experience.

A synaesthete for whom the number 2 is red will find it more difficult to name the ink colour of a green 2 than if the number is presented in red ink and will take longer to name the color. (Credit: iStockphoto)

Dr Ilaria Berteletti and colleagues tested an Italian synaesthete using a classic test, in which the participant was shown a series of numbers presented in different ink colours and asked to name those colours. A synaesthete for whom the number 2 is red will find it more difficult to name the ink colour of a green 2 than if the number is presented in red ink and will take longer to respond. This slowing of response is generally taken as evidence that synaesthetic experiences are real and automatic.

As predicted, the participant in this study was slower to name the colours of the presented Arabic digits when they did not match the colours that he had reported "seeing." Strikingly, the same slowing was observed when the numbers were presented as dots, such as dice patterns, even though the participant denied seeing any colours for these types of stimuli. The results suggest that the mere concept of a number, regardless of how it was presented visually (as an Arabic digit or pattern of dots), was enough to produce the marker of synaesthetic behaviour, even when the participant was not conscious of experiencing synaesthesia. According to co-author Dr Edward Hubbard, "a lifetime of synaesthetic experiences may lead to the creation of learned associations between different classes of stimuli" and that "conscious awareness of these associations is not necessary for them to affect behaviour."

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