%0 Journal Article
%T ˇ°I like the way you moveˇ±: how hormonal changes across the menstrual cycle affect female perceptions of gait
%A Rick van der Zwan
%A Natasha Herbert
%J BMC Research Notes
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1756-0500-5-453
%X Experiment 1 showed female observers could discriminate between point-light walkers with low and high levels of fluctuating asymmetries in their gaits. Female observers were more sensitive to asymmetries in female gaits than they were for asymmetries in male gaits. Experiment 2 showed that level of gait asymmetry did not affect the abilities of observers to discriminate female from male walkers. Experiment 3 showed that female observers did not change their preference for low and high asymmetry walkers across their menstrual cycles. However, females showed a decreased preference for all female walkers at the time during which it was estimated observers were at peak fertility. That same change in preference was not observed for male walkers.These data suggest female observers may not value gait asymmetry, as a mate selection cue, in the same way that they value asymmetries in faces and bodies. While only ˇ°averageˇ± gaits were used in these experiments, rather than the gaits of individual walkers, the types of asymmetries in gait tested here were not used in the same way as static cues for judging the apparent healthiness of individuals. Females do discriminate well average female gait asymmetries and do change their preferences for those gaits across their menstrual cycle. Doing so may reflect the operation of processes that equip females with an advantage when competing for mates at times of peak fertility.Variations in hormone concentrations across the menstrual cycle affect human female mate preferences. It has been shown that during the stage of the menstrual cycle during which women are most likely to become pregnant from a single act of sexual intercourse (the high conception risk, HCR, phase) that they prefer more masculine male voices [1], faces [2-6], and bodies [7,8]. During HCR females also show preferences for increased dominant male behavioural displays such as direct intrasexual competitiveness [9], for male faces with low levels of facial asymmetry [10]
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1756-0500/5/453