Composite Faces Research Paper

My topic, which has to do with distinguishing features in composite faces, has been tested in a different situation, with varied results. It started in the 1800s when Sir Francis Dalton projected images over each other to find averages of groups like criminals, soldiers, or those with diseases, and showed them to his colleagues. They all concluded that the composite faces were more attractive than the originals. Another study done on the same aspect was done in the 90s that asked volunteers to rate attractiveness of 60 women, then of their composite face. They rated the face as more attractive than the others. The researcher then averaged the highest rated 15 and found it was rated higher, and a version of that face with exaggerated features …show more content…
These can highlight facial features or shapes typical to groups of people or nationalities, and those types of diverse features would make some combinations more obvious. For example, averaging someone with a very light complexion with someone with a very dark complexion would narrow the possible original faces noticeably. Therefore, I will try to make my group of basic faces as diverse as possible, as to make it not as obvious because of ethnic differences. Another thing that would make the composites easier to figure out would be unique or uncommon features like very arched eyebrows ,scars, etc. This type of inconsistency was tested when a researcher used the most attractively ranked celebrities versus most unattractively ranked celebrities, and found the average of the most attractive was very sharp and coherent, and most of the faces had extremely similar shapes. The least attractive celebrity average showed features much more spread out. meaning they had more unique faces and their faces may have been less symmetrical. My faces will use much fewer originals, and will be completely based off of finding which features make it easiest to