Do Characteristics of Faces That Convey Trustworthiness and Dominance Underlie Perceptions of Criminality?

BACKGROUND: This study tested whether the 2D face evaluation model proposed by Oosterhof and Todorov can parsimoniously account for why some faces are perceived as more criminal-looking than others. The 2D model proposes that trust and dominance are spontaneously evaluated from features of faces. These evaluations have adaptive significance from an evolutionary standpoint because they indicate whether someone should be approached or avoided. METHOD: Participants rated the emotional state, personality traits, and criminal appearance of faces shown in photographs. The photographs were of males and females taken under naturalistic conditions (i.e., police mugshots) and highly controlled conditions. In the controlled photographs, the emotion display of the actor was systematically varied (happy expression, emotionally neutral expression, or angry expression). RESULTS: Both male and female faces rated high in criminal appearance were perceived as less trustworthy and more dominant in police mugshots as well as in photographs taken under highly controlled conditions. Additionally, emotionally neutral faces were deemed as less trustworthy if they were perceived as angry, and more dominant if they were morphologically mature. Systematically varying emotion displays also affected criminality ratings, with angry faces perceived as the most criminal, followed by neutral faces and then happy faces. CONCLUSION: The 2D model parsimoniously accounts for criminality perceptions. This study extends past research by demonstrating that morphological features that signal high dominance and low trustworthiness can also signal high criminality. Spontaneous evaluations regarding criminal propensity may have adaptive value in that they may help us to avoid someone who is physically threatening. On the other hand, such evaluations could inappropriately influence decision making in criminal identification lineups. Hence, additional research is needed to discover whether and how people can avoid making evaluations regarding criminality from a person's facial appearance

How do you say ‘hello’? Personality impressions from brief novel voices

On hearing a novel voice, listeners readily form personality impressions of that speaker. Accurate or not, these impressions are known to affect subsequent interactions; yet the underlying psychological and acoustical bases remain poorly understood. Furthermore, hitherto studies have focussed on extended speech as opposed to analysing the instantaneous impressions we obtain from first experience. In this paper, through a mass online rating experiment, 320 participants rated 64 sub-second vocal utterances of the word ‘hello’ on one of 10 personality traits. We show that: (1) personality judgements of brief utterances from unfamiliar speakers are consistent across listeners; (2) a two-dimensional ‘social voice space’ with axes mapping Valence (Trust, Likeability) and Dominance, each driven by differing combinations of vocal acoustics, adequately summarises ratings in both male and female voices; and (3) a positive combination of Valence and Dominance results in increased perceived male vocal Attractiveness, whereas perceived female vocal Attractiveness is largely controlled by increasing Valence. Results are discussed in relation to the rapid evaluation of personality and, in turn, the intent of others, as being driven by survival mechanisms via approach or avoidance behaviours. These findings provide empirical bases for predicting personality impressions from acoustical analyses of short utterances and for generating desired personality impressions in artificial voices

Importance of the Global Regulators Agr and SaeRS in the Pathogenesis of CA-MRSA USA300 Infection

CA-MRSA infection, driven by the emergence of the USA300 genetic background, has become epidemic in the United States. USA300 isolates are hypervirulent, compared with other CA- and HA-MRSA strains, in experimental models of necrotizing pneumonia and skin infection. Interestingly, USA300 isolates also have increased expression of core genomic global regulatory and virulence factor genes, including agr and saeRS. To test the hypothesis that agr and saeRS promote the observed hypervirulent phenotype of USA300, isogenic deletion mutants of each were constructed in USA300. The effects of gene deletion on expression and protein abundance of selected downstream virulence genes were assessed by semiquantitative real-time reverse-transcriptase PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blot, respectively. The effects of gene deletion were also assessed in mouse models of necrotizing pneumonia and skin infection. Deletion of saeRS, and, to a lesser extent, agr, resulted in attenuated expression of the genes encoding α-hemolysin (hla) and the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (lukSF-PV). Despite the differences in hla transcription, the toxin was undetectable in culture supernatants of either of the deletion mutants. Deletion of agr, but not saeRS, markedly increased the expression of the gene encoding protein A (spa), which correlated with increased protein abundance. Each deletion mutant demonstrated significant attenuation of virulence, compared with wild-type USA300, in mouse models of necrotizing pneumonia and skin infection. We conclude that agr and saeRS each independently contribute to the remarkable virulence of USA300, likely by means of their effects on expression of secreted toxins

Candida bracarensis: Evaluation of virulence factors and its tolerance to Amphotericin B and Fluconazole

Candida bracarensis is an uncommon Candida species found during an epidemiological study of candidiasis performed in Braga, Portugal. Initially, it was identified as C. glabrata, but recently detailed analyses pointed out their differences. So, little information is still available about C. bracarensis virulence factors and antifungal susceptibilities. Therefore, the main goal of this work is to evaluate the ability of C. bracarensis to form biofilms, to produce hydrolytic enzymes (proteases, phospholipases and hemolysins), as well as its susceptibility to amphotericin B and fluconazole. It was shown, for the first time, that all C. bracarensis strains were able to form biofilms and display proteinase and hemolytic activities. Moreover, although planktonic cells presented antifungal susceptibility, amphotericin B and fluconazole were unable to inhibit biofilm formation and eradicate pre-formed biofilms. Due to the propensity of C. bracarensis to display antifungal resistance and virulence attributes, the control of these emerging pathogens is recommended.This work was supported by the projects PTDC/SAU-MIC/119069/2010, PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013, from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal and ‘‘BioHealth—Biotechnology and Bioengineering approaches to improve health quality’’, Ref. NORTE-07-0124FEDER-000027, co-funded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 – O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER. The authors also acknowledge the project ‘‘Consolidating Research Expertise and Resources on Cellular and Molecular Biotechnology at CEB/IBB’’, Ref. FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER027462

Predictive value of S100-B and copeptin for outcomes following seizure: the BISTRO International Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the performance of S100-B protein and copeptin, in addition to clinical variables, in predicting outcomes of patients attending the emergency department (ED) following a seizure. METHODS: We prospectively included adult patients presented with an acute seizure, in four EDs in France and the United Kingdom. Participants were followed up for 28 days. The primary endpoint was a composite of seizure recurrence, all-cause mortality, hospitalization or rehospitalisation, or return visit in the ED within seven days. RESULTS: Among the 389 participants included in the analysis, 156 (40%) experienced the primary endpoint within seven days and 195 (54%) at 28 days. Mean levels of both S100-B (0.11 μg/l [95% CI 0.07-0.20] vs 0.09 μg/l [0.07-0.14]) and copeptin (23 pmol/l [9-104] vs 17 pmol/l [8-43]) were higher in participants meeting the primary endpoint. However, both biomarkers were poorly predictive of the primary outcome with a respective area under the receiving operator characteristic curve of 0.57 [0.51-0.64] and 0.59 [0.54-0.64]. Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified higher age (odds ratio [OR] 1.3 per decade [1.1-1.5]), provoked seizure (OR 4.93 [2.5-9.8]), complex partial seizure (OR 4.09 [1.8-9.1]) and first seizure (OR 1.83 [1.1-3.0]) as independent predictors of the primary outcome. A second regression analysis including the biomarkers showed no additional predictive benefit (S100-B OR 3.89 [0.80-18.9] copeptin OR 1 [1.00-1.00]). CONCLUSION: The plasma biomarkers S100-B and copeptin did not improve prediction of poor outcome following seizure. Higher age, a first seizure, a provoked seizure and a partial complex seizure are independently associated with adverse outcomes

Facial Cosmetics and Attractiveness: Comparing the Effect Sizes of Professionally-Applied Cosmetics and Identity

Forms of body decoration exist in all human cultures. However, in Western societies, women are more likely to engage in appearance modification, especially through the use of facial cosmetics. How effective are cosmetics at altering attractiveness? Previous research has hinted that the effect is not large, especially when compared to the variation in attractiveness observed between individuals due to differences in identity. In order to build a fuller understanding of how cosmetics and identity affect attractiveness, here we examine how professionally-applied cosmetics alter attractiveness and compare this effect with the variation in attractiveness observed between individuals. In Study 1, 33 YouTube models were rated for attractiveness before and after the application of professionally-applied cosmetics. Cosmetics explained a larger proportion of the variation in attractiveness compared with previous studies, but this effect remained smaller than variation caused by differences in attractiveness between individuals. Study 2 replicated the results of the first study with a sample of 45 supermodels, with the aim of examining the effect of cosmetics in a sample of faces with low variation in attractiveness between individuals. While the effect size of cosmetics was generally large, between-person variability due to identity remained larger. Both studies also found interactions between cosmetics and identity-more attractive models received smaller increases when cosmetics were worn. Overall, we show that professionally- applied cosmetics produce a larger effect than self-applied cosmetics, an important theoretical consideration for the field. However, the effect of individual differences in facial appearance is ultimately more important in perceptions of attractiveness

Similarities and Differences in Chinese and Caucasian Adults' Use of Facial Cues for Trustworthiness Judgments

All cultural groups in the world place paramount value on interpersonal trust. Existing research suggests that although accurate judgments of another's trustworthiness require extensive interactions with the person, we often make trustworthiness judgments based on facial cues on the first encounter. However, little is known about what facial cues are used for such judgments and what the bases are on which individuals make their trustworthiness judgments.In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that individuals may use facial attractiveness cues as a “shortcut” for judging another's trustworthiness due to the lack of other more informative and in-depth information about trustworthiness. Using data-driven statistical models of 3D Caucasian faces, we compared facial cues used for judging the trustworthiness of Caucasian faces by Caucasian participants who were highly experienced with Caucasian faces, and the facial cues used by Chinese participants who were unfamiliar with Caucasian faces. We found that Chinese and Caucasian participants used similar facial cues to judge trustworthiness. Also, both Chinese and Caucasian participants used almost identical facial cues for judging trustworthiness and attractiveness.The results suggest that without opportunities to interact with another person extensively, we use the less racially specific and more universal attractiveness cues as a “shortcut” for trustworthiness judgments

The role of the amygdala in face perception and evaluation

Faces are one of the most significant social stimuli and the processes underlying face perception are at the intersection of cognition, affect, and motivation. Vision scientists have had a tremendous success of mapping the regions for perceptual analysis of faces in posterior cortex. Based on evidence from (a) single unit recording studies in monkeys and humans; (b) human functional localizer studies; and (c) meta-analyses of neuroimaging studies, I argue that faces automatically evoke responses not only in these regions but also in the amygdala. I also argue that (a) a key property of faces represented in the amygdala is their typicality; and (b) one of the functions of the amygdala is to bias attention to atypical faces, which are associated with higher uncertainty. This framework is consistent with a number of other amygdala findings not involving faces, suggesting a general account for the role of the amygdala in perception