一項新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，女性的“經(jīng)期臉”并不存在

一項新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，女性的“經(jīng)期臉”并不存在

Can you tell just by looking where a woman's at in her reproductive cycle? For other primate species, such as the red-bottomed baboon, it's pretty easy to see. For humans, the changes are more subtle.

你能僅僅通過觀察一個女人的生殖周期就知道她在哪里嗎?對于其他靈長類物種，如紅底狒狒，這是很容易看到的。對人類來說，變化更加微妙。

But there are some scientists out there who claim it's possible to tell the stage of a woman's cycle simply by measuring the shape of her face - leading to the idea of a distinctive 'ovulation face' or even a 'period face'. Now, a new study has contradicted this idea.

但也有一些科學(xué)家聲稱，通過簡單地測量女性的臉型就可以判斷出她們的生理周期，這就產(chǎn)生了獨特的“排卵期臉”甚至是“經(jīng)期臉”的想法?，F(xiàn)在，一項新的研究反駁了這一觀點。

Back in the 1990s, several small studies showed that on the day of ovulation, the symmetry of a woman's soft tissue, such as her breast size, ear size and digit length were subtly shifted by hormones to make them more attractive to men.

早在20世紀(jì)90年代，幾項小型研究表明，在排卵當(dāng)天，女性軟組織的對稱性，如胸部大小、耳朵大小和手指長度，會被荷爾蒙微妙地改變，從而對男性更具吸引力。

Now, however, a more thorough replication of this research has found no such fluctuations in facial shape during a woman's menstrual cycle.

然而，現(xiàn)在，這項研究的一個更徹底的復(fù)制發(fā)現(xiàn)，在女性的月經(jīng)周期中，沒有這種面部形狀的波動。

Our results suggest that the previously found increased facial attractiveness of women in the most fertile phase of the menstrual cycle is not driven by changes in facial shape, the authors write, "but might instead stem from other changes in facial appearance, such as a more attractive skin tone; and underline the importance of replication of studies with new methods."

作者寫道:“我們的研究結(jié)果表明，先前發(fā)現(xiàn)的女性在月經(jīng)周期最易生育的階段面部吸引力的增加并不是由面部形狀的變化引起的，而是由其他面部外觀的變化引起的，比如更有吸引力的膚色;并強(qiáng)調(diào)用新方法重復(fù)研究的重要性。”

Using a larger sample size and more detailed hormonal tests than previous studies, the new research set out to test whether reported changes in a woman's attractiveness at different points in their menstrual cycle might be linked to the shape of their face.

與之前的研究相比，這項新研究的樣本量更大，激素測試也更詳細(xì)。研究的目的是測試女性在月經(jīng)周期不同階段的吸引力變化是否與她們的臉型有關(guān)。

As ovulation approaches, studies have shown the female body goes through a bunch of changes. Voices, for instance, can rise and body odour can become more attractive.

隨著排卵的臨近，研究表明女性的身體經(jīng)歷了一系列的變化。例如，聲音可以提高，體味可以變得更有吸引力。

But while there is some evidence that women's faces are more attractive to both men and women near ovulation, these results are flimsier and their conclusions have recently come under contention.

然而，盡管有證據(jù)表明，在排卵期前后，女性的面容對男性和女性都更有吸引力，但這些結(jié)果并不可靠，而且他們的結(jié)論最近受到了爭議。

In 2019, for instance, researchers improved upon older methods and found no effects of symmetry and femininity on attractiveness.

例如，在2019年，研究人員改進(jìn)了以前的方法，發(fā)現(xiàn)對稱性和女性氣質(zhì)對吸引力沒有影響。

This year's research is yet another follow-up with an equally skeptical take.

今年的研究是另一個同樣持懷疑態(tài)度的后續(xù)研究。

Testing 75 healthy women with regular cycles, the authors measured various components of facial appearance - symmetry, sex-typical features and attractiveness - at three different stages in the menstrual cycle.

研究人員對75名正常月經(jīng)周期的健康女性進(jìn)行了測試，測量了她們在月經(jīng)周期的三個不同階段的面部特征——對稱性、性別特征和吸引力。

Unlike previous research, ovulation was determined not by an arbitrary length of time after menstruation, but from peaks in crucial hormones such as oestradiol and luteinising hormone. This direct measurement along with the much larger sample size sets the study apart from many previous methods.

與之前的研究不同的是，排卵不是由月經(jīng)后的任意時間長短決定的，而是由關(guān)鍵激素(如雌二醇和黃體生成素)的峰值決定的。這種直接測量和更大的樣本量使研究有別于許多以前的方法。

[T]hese results do not support reports of symmetry fluctuations in facial images and other body measurements across the menstrual cycle, the authors conclude.

“這些結(jié)果并不支持在月經(jīng)周期中面部圖像和其他身體測量的對稱性波動的報告。”作者總結(jié)道。

In the new paper, the researchers admit they do not know why previous studies turned up such different results, only that we may have landed on the wrong explanation.

在這篇新論文中，研究人員承認(rèn)，他們不知道為什么之前的研究得出了如此不同的結(jié)果，只知道我們可能得出了錯誤的解釋。

Rather than facial symmetry changing, they suggest, women could appear more attractive at certain times of their cycle because of changes in their skin tone.

他們認(rèn)為，女性在生理周期的某些時候可能因為膚色的變化而顯得更有吸引力，而不是面部對稱性的變化。

The changes in attractiveness judgements found in some of the previous studies might also be a by-product of changes in hormonal levels, the authors suggest.

“以前的一些研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，人們對外表吸引力的判斷發(fā)生了變化，這可能也是荷爾蒙水平變化的副作用。”作者說。

And that, they say, is exactly why we need to replicate studies like this with novel methods and novel samples - so we don't go assuming something's true when it very well might be false.

他們說，這正是為什么我們需要用新的方法和新的樣本來重復(fù)這樣的研究——所以我們不會在很可能是錯誤的情況下假設(shè)某件事是正確的。

The study was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

這項研究發(fā)表在《英國皇家學(xué)會學(xué)報B》上。