TY - JOUR
T1 - Cross-modal associations of human body odour attractiveness with facial and vocal attractiveness provide little support for the backup signals hypothesis
T2 - A systematic review and meta-analysis
AU - Třebický, Vít
AU - Delplanque, Sylvain
AU - Ferdenzi, Camille
AU - Fink, Bernhard
AU - Jelínková, Lucie
AU - Pátková, Žaneta
AU - Roberts, S. Craig
AU - Röder, Susanne
AU - Saxton, Tamsin K.
AU - Schwambergová, Dagmar
AU - Štěrbová, Zuzana
AU - Fialová, Jitka Třebická
AU - Havlíček, Jan
N1 - Funding Information: This study was supported by the Czech Science Foundation GAˇCRP407/19/11822S, the Charles University Research Centres UNCE/HUM/025 (UNCE 204056), and the Charles university grant agency GA UK No 1374319.
PY - 2023/1/1
Y1 - 2023/1/1
N2 - Assessing the attractiveness of potential mating partners typically involves multiple sensory modalities, including the integration of olfactory, visual, and auditory cues. However, predictions diverge on how the individual modalities should relate to each other. According to the backup signals hypothesis, multimodal cues provide redundant information, whereas the multiple messages hypothesis suggests that different modalities provide independent and distinct information about an individual's mating-related quality. The backup signals hypothesis predicts a positive association between assessments based on different modalities, whereas no substantial correlation across modalities is expected under the multiple messageshypothesis. Previous studies testing the two hypotheses have provided mixed results, and a systematic evaluation is currently missing.We performed a systematic review and a meta-analysis of published and unpublished studies to examine the congruence in assessments between human body odour and facial attractiveness, and between body odour and vocal attractiveness. We found positive but weak associations between ratings of body odours and faces (r = 0.1, k = 25), and between body odours and voices (r = 0.1, k = 9). No sex differences were observed in the magnitude of effects.Compared to judgments of facial and vocal attractiveness, our results suggest that assessment of body odour provides independent and non-redundant information about human mating-related quality. Our findings thus provide little support for the backup signals hypothesis and may be better explained by the multiple messages hypothesis.
AB - Assessing the attractiveness of potential mating partners typically involves multiple sensory modalities, including the integration of olfactory, visual, and auditory cues. However, predictions diverge on how the individual modalities should relate to each other. According to the backup signals hypothesis, multimodal cues provide redundant information, whereas the multiple messages hypothesis suggests that different modalities provide independent and distinct information about an individual's mating-related quality. The backup signals hypothesis predicts a positive association between assessments based on different modalities, whereas no substantial correlation across modalities is expected under the multiple messageshypothesis. Previous studies testing the two hypotheses have provided mixed results, and a systematic evaluation is currently missing.We performed a systematic review and a meta-analysis of published and unpublished studies to examine the congruence in assessments between human body odour and facial attractiveness, and between body odour and vocal attractiveness. We found positive but weak associations between ratings of body odours and faces (r = 0.1, k = 25), and between body odours and voices (r = 0.1, k = 9). No sex differences were observed in the magnitude of effects.Compared to judgments of facial and vocal attractiveness, our results suggest that assessment of body odour provides independent and non-redundant information about human mating-related quality. Our findings thus provide little support for the backup signals hypothesis and may be better explained by the multiple messages hypothesis.
KW - Face
KW - Mate choice
KW - Multiple messages
KW - Perception
KW - Voice
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85143131611&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.11.001
DO - 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.11.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85143131611
SN - 1090-5138
VL - 44
SP - 19
EP - 29
JO - Evolution and Human Behavior
JF - Evolution and Human Behavior
IS - 1
ER -