What is cosmetics for?
Researchers from Gettysburg College (Pennsylvania), working under the guidance of Professor Richard Russell, analyzed images of 289 faces belonging to people aged 20 to 70 years, and found that aging is accompanied by a change in the color of the eyes, eyebrows and lips, as well as darkening of the skin of the face. The result of this process is a decrease in contrast between the facial features and the surrounding skin.
The "problem areas" in the picture are outlined with a dotted line (the figures, except for the last one, are from an article in PLoS ONE).
As we age, the contrast between the redness of the lips and the color of the surrounding skin decreases, as well as between the color of the eyebrows and the skin of the forehead. Despite the fact that people consciously do not perceive these changes as a sign of aging, on a subconscious level it is used to determine a person's age.
As part of a separate work, the researchers artificially enhanced the contrast of images of more than a hundred faces and, with the help of scientific graphs and formulas, demonstrated that this "rejuvenated" them in the eyes of those considering. Contrast reduction, on the contrary, caused the opposite effect.
Two images of the same person, differing only in that,
that in the left picture its contrast is increased, and in the right – reduced.
The face on the left picture looks younger than on the right.
The researchers believe that their observations partially explain the popularity of decorative cosmetics, one of the purposes of which is to increase the contrast of facial features, for example, due to the redness of the lips or the blackness of eyelashes and eyebrows.
Article by Porcheron et al. Aspects of Facial Contrast Decrease with Age and Are Cues for Age Perception is published in the journal PLoS ONE.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of Gettysburg College:
Psychology Prof. Richard Russell reveals a new sign of aging in perception research.
20.03.2013