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To date, this experiment has only been performed with rhesus
Trainor, LJ, Trehub, SE (1993) What mediates infants’ and adults’ superior processing of the major over the augmented triad?
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104
Practically everyone agrees on what is
Trehub, SE, Unyk, AM, Trainor, LJ (1993) Adults identify infant-directed music across cultures.
Infant Behavioral Development,
16: 193-211.

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Interestingly, the abnormalities persisted
Chang, EF, Merzenich, MM (2003) Environmental noise retards auditory cortical development.
Science,
300: 498-502.

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And when it finally gets them
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Newsletter (2003)—available online at
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Research has shown that fetuses older
Shahidullah, BS, Hepper, PG (1994) Frequency discrimination by the fetus.
Early Human Development,
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Indeed, it is now clear that the sounds a fetus
Hepper, PG (1988) Fetal “soap” addiction.
Lancet,
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In early primates this high concentration
Neurobiologist John Allman was the first to point out this shift from olfactory to visual dominance that occurred with the evolution of primates. For a description, see Allman, J (1977) Evolution of the visual system in early primates. In
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Evolutionary biologists have argued
Cartmill, M (1972) Arboreal adaptations and the origin of the order primates. In
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This process resulted in a higher density
Nathans, J (1989) Genes for color vision.
Scientific American,
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Recent work has shown that the advance from dichromacy
Osorio, D, Vorobyev, M (1996) Colour vision as an adaptation to frugivory in primates.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London,
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The latter stream is known as the “what”
Ungerleider, LG, Haxby, JV (1994) “What” and “where” in the human brain.
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If these cells are damaged in an adult
Damasio, A, Yamada, T, Damasio, H, Corbett, J, McKee, J (1980) Central achromatopsia: behavioral, anatomic, and physiologic aspects.
Neurology,
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Experimental evidence shows that multiple cells from V1
Felleman DJ, Xiao Y, McClendon E (1997) Modular organization of occipito-temporal pathways: cortical connections between visual area 4 and visual area 2 and posterior inferotemporal ventral area in macaque monkeys.
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For instance, at least one study has demonstrated that
Annis, RC, Frost, B (1973) Human visual ecology and orientation anisotropies in acuity.
Science,
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126
In the parlance of evolutionary biology
Ryan, MJ (1998) Sexual selection, receiver biases, and the evolution of sex differences.
Science,
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There are compelling examples where a physical
For example, see Ryan, MJ (1998) Sexual selection, receiver biases, and the evolution of sex differences.
Science,
281: 1999-2003.

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Rather, stimulation of the frog’s
Ibid.

127
sexual selection is often used as a theoretical
For example, see Ridley, M (2003)
The Red Queen: Sex and Evolution of Human Nature
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The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature
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The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating
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The pioneering biologist Amotz
Zahavi, A, Zahavi, A (1997)
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However, many of these “improvements”
Miller, G (2001)
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128
Although there is notable cultural
For an entertaining review, see Etcoff, N (2000)
Survival of the Prettiest
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129
Babies who have an innate fondness for faces
Thornhill, R, Gangestad, SW (1993) Human facial beauty: averageness, symmetry, and parasite resistance.
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The English geneticist Angus
Bateman, A J 1948. Intra-sexual selection in Drosophila.
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Women produce approximately four hundred
Williams, GC (1975)
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We can find some help here in the work
Hamilton,WD, Zuk, M (1982) Heritable true fitness and bright birds: a role for parasites?
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Either way, it has been shown
The best book to find examples of this is the first, Darwin, C,
The Descent of Man
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Indeed, the handicap principle
Zahavi, A (1975) Mate selection: A selection for a handicap.
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Plato and Plotinus wrote extensively
Hofstader, A, Kuhns, R (eds.) (1964)
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Body shape is driven by the distribution
Singh, D (2002) Female mate value at a glance: Relationship of waist-to-hip ratio to health, fecundity, and attractiveness.
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Increased testosterone in postpubertal boys
Bjorntorp, P (1991) Adipose tissue distribution and function.
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Healthy premenopausal women typically
Singh, D (1993a) Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: role of waist-to-hip ratio.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
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145
In the early 1990s, psychologist Devendra
Ibid.

145
The drawings seen as least attractive
Ibid. Singh, D. (1993b) Body shape and women’s attractiveness:The critical role of waist-to-hip ratio.
Human Nature,
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146
For these variables, positive rankings
Singh, D, Luis, S (1995) Ethnic and gender consensus for the effects of waist-to-hip ratio on judgement of women’s attractiveness.
Human Nature,
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146
Granted, but this is unlikely
Ibid., Singh, Luis; ibid., Singh, D.

146
The classic beauties Marilyn Monroe
Etcoff, N (1999)
Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty
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147
Women with WHR lower than .8 have a significantly
Singh, D (1993a); Singh, D (2002).

147
Women with WHRs below .8 are also significantly more likely
Ibid., Singh, D; Ibid., Singh, D.

148
One important marker of phenotypic
Scheib, JE, Gangestad, SW, Thornhill, R (1999) Facial attractiveness, symmetry and cues of good genes.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B,
266: 1913-1917; Gangestad, SW, Thornhill, R, Yeo, RA. (1994) Facial attractiveness, developmental stability, and fluctuating asymmetry.
Ethology and Sociobiology,
15: 73-85; Moller, AP,Thornhill, R (1998) Bilateral symmetry and sexual selection: A meta-analysis.
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149
Considering this, it is thought that fluctuating asymmetry
Moller, AP, Swaddle, JP (1997)
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149
Increases are associated with decrements in biological fitness
For an excellent review, see Thornhill, R, Moller, AP (1997) Developmental stability, disease and medicine.
Biological Reviews
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149
Insofar as fluctuating asymmetry has been found to be partly heritable
Ibid.; Moller, AP (1990) Fluctuating asymmetry in male sexual ornaments may reliably reveal quality.
Animal Behavior,
40: 1185-1187;Watson, PJ,Thornhill, R (1994) Fluctuating asymmetry and sexual selection.
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149
Indeed, in the majority of species tested
Moller, AP, Thornhill, R (1998) Bilateral symmetry and sexual selection: a meta-analysis.
American Naturalist,
151: 174-192.

149
In a large-scale review of sixty-five
Ibid.

150
A second important finding was that in most species
In general, secondary sexual traits exhibit greater variability in asymmetry than other traits. Moller, AP, Pomiankowski, A (1993) Fluctuating asymmetry and sexual selection.
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150
For instance, in the dozen or so studies of humans
Moller, AP, Thornhill, R (1998) Bilateral symmetry and sexual selection: a meta-analysis.
American Naturalist,
151: 174-192.

153
They will also visually track a line drawing of a face
Maurer, D, Young, R (1983)

Newborns’ following of natural and distorted arrangements of facial features.
Infant Behavior and Development,
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Right out of the womb, babies have a preference
Bushnell, IWR, Sai, F, et al. (1989) Neonatal recognition of mother’s face.
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153
By day three, infants can mimic certain facial
Meltzoff, AN, Moore, MK (1977) Imitation of facial and manual gestures by human neonates.
Science,
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153
Add a few months and infants develop
Barrera, ME, Maurer, D (1981) Discrimination of stranger by the three-month-old.
Child Development,
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153
and detect different emotional expressions
Schwartz, GM, Izard, CE, et al. (1985) The 5-month-old’s ability to discriminate facial expressions of emotion.
Infant Behavior and Development,
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153
The “face as a kin recognition device” theory
See one of my favorite books for an excellent review: Konner, M (2001)
The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit
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153
For instance, newborns have a preference for stimuli
Bornstein, MH, Ferdinandsen, K, et al. (1981) Perception of symmetry in infancy.
Developmental Psychology,
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154
They also prefer objects that are smooth
Langlois, JH, Roggman, RJ, et al. (1987) Infant preferences for attractive faces: Rudiments of a stereotype?
Developmental Psychology,
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Developmental Psychology,
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154
In a series of compelling studies, psychologist Judith
Ibid., Langlois, Roggman, et al.

155
Langlois found that infants spent significantly more
Ibid.

155
This result has since been replicated and extended
Langlois, JH, Ritter, JM, et al. (1991) Facial diversity and infant preferences for attractive faces.
Developmental Psychology,
27: 79-84.

155
Cross-cultural studies have been done
See, for example, Jones, D, Hill, K (1993) Criteria for facial attractiveness in five populations.
Human Nature,
4: 271- 295; Wagatsuma, E, Kleinke, CL (1979) Ratings of facial beauty by Korean-Americans and Caucasian females.
Journal of Social Psychology,
109: 299-300.

156
Studies by evolutionary biologists and psychologists
Symons, D (1979)
The Evolution of Human Sexuality
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Psychological Science,
5: 214-219; Rhodes, G, Tremewan, T (1996) Averageness, exaggeration, and facial attractiveness.
Psychological Science,
7: 105-110; Grammer, K, Thornhill, R (1994) Human (homo sapiens) facial attractiveness and sexual selection: the role of symmetry and averageness.
Journal of Comparative Psychology,
108: 233-242.

156
Randy Thornhill and psychologist Steve Gangestad
Thornhill, R, Gangestad, SW (1993) Human facial beauty: averageness, symmetry and parasite resistance.
Human Nature,
4: 237-269.

156
Other studies have found that people
Cunningham, MR, Barbee, AP, et al. (1990) What do women want? facial metric assessment of multiple motives in the perception of male physical attractiveness.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
59: 61-72.

156
These changes, in turn, raise the metabolic
Grossman, CJ (1985) Interactions between the gonadal steroids and the immune system.
Science,
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157
In addition to averageness and attention to secondary
For nice reviews, see Rhodes, G (2006) The evolutionary psychology of facial beauty.
Annual Reviews of Psychology,
57: 199-226; Thornhill, R, Gangestad, SW (1999) Facial attractiveness.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences,
3: 452-460.