Symmetric faces are a sign of successful cognitive aging

Lars Penke; Timothy C. Bates; Alan J. Gow; Alison Pattie; John M. Starr; Benedict C. Jones; David I. Perrett; Ian J. Deary

doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.06.001

Symmetric faces are a sign of successful cognitive aging

Lars Penke^*, Timothy C. Bates, Alan J. Gow, Alison Pattie, John M. Starr, Benedict C. Jones, David I. Perrett, Ian J. Deary

^*Corresponding author for this work

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

44 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

It has been proposed that a common cause underlies individual differences in bodily and cognitive decline in old age. No good marker for this common cause has been identified to date. Here, fluctuating asymmetry (FA), an indicator of developmental stability that relates to intelligence differences in young adults, was measured from facial photographs of 216 surviving members of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 at age 83 and related to their intelligence at ages 11, 79 and 83 years. FA at age 83 was unrelated to intelligence at ages 11 and 79 and to cognitive change between 11 and 79 years. It was, however, associated with intelligence and information processing efficiency at age 83 and with cognitive change between 79 and 83 years. Significant results were limited to men, a result predicted by sex differences in life history tradeoffs and life expectancy. Results were stronger when directional asymmetries were corrected in facial FA measures. Thus, FA is a candidate marker for the common cause of differential senescence.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	429-437
Number of pages	9
Journal	Evolution and Human Behavior
Volume	30
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.06.001
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2009

Funding

This study was funded by a British Academy small research grant awarded to IJD and DIP. The young comparison sample was part of a project supported by grant As 59/15 of the German Research Foundation (DFG). LP is supported by a grant from the UK Medical Research Council Grant (No. 82800), which is part of the Help The Aged/Research into Ageing-funded Disconnected Mind project. This work was undertaken within The University of Edinburgh Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, part of the cross council Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Initiative. Funding from the BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC and MRC is gratefully acknowledged.

Keywords

cognitive aging
common cause hypothesis
facial fluctuating asymmetry
general intelligence
information processing speed
senescence

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10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.06.001

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abstract = "It has been proposed that a common cause underlies individual differences in bodily and cognitive decline in old age. No good marker for this common cause has been identified to date. Here, fluctuating asymmetry (FA), an indicator of developmental stability that relates to intelligence differences in young adults, was measured from facial photographs of 216 surviving members of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 at age 83 and related to their intelligence at ages 11, 79 and 83 years. FA at age 83 was unrelated to intelligence at ages 11 and 79 and to cognitive change between 11 and 79 years. It was, however, associated with intelligence and information processing efficiency at age 83 and with cognitive change between 79 and 83 years. Significant results were limited to men, a result predicted by sex differences in life history tradeoffs and life expectancy. Results were stronger when directional asymmetries were corrected in facial FA measures. Thus, FA is a candidate marker for the common cause of differential senescence.",

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AU - Perrett, David I.

AU - Deary, Ian J.

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KW - common cause hypothesis

KW - facial fluctuating asymmetry

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Symmetric faces are a sign of successful cognitive aging

Abstract

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Keywords

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