Colored hair affects the facial attractiveness judgment and identification at different time courses

Colored hair affects the facial attractiveness judgment and identification at different time courses | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Colored hair affects the facial attractiveness judgment and identification at different time courses Megumi Kitsugi, Atsunori Ariga This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8840523/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Although faces usually include hair of various colors, the effects of colored hair on face perception have received little attention. Because hair is a part of face in actual interpersonal situations, this study examined how colored hair influences the facial attractiveness judgment and identification with the short and long durations (60 and 1,700 ms). In Experiment 1, the facial attractiveness was relatively consistent across stimulus durations regardless of hair color. Moreover, the individual attractiveness was relatively consistent between blond and black hair at the short duration, but diversified in response to hair color at the long duration. In Experiment 2, the identification accuracy was lower for blond than for black hair only at the short duration. These findings suggest that hair color disrupts the identification of briefly presented faces, whereas it does not impair attractiveness judgments. Instead, hair color modulates perceived attractiveness when faces are viewed for a longer time. These results highlight how external facial features shape interpersonal evaluations depending on the time available for face processing. This temporal pattern may help explain how subtle biases related to physical appearance emerge during rapid social encounters. Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Introduction Faces are socially important cues that convey extensive information, enabling us to infer identity, emotional states, personality traits, and social or physical attributes such as gender, age, race, and health of others. In fact, faces form viewers’ first impressions (Zebrowitz, 2017), which in turn influence important decisions in social life, for example, voting (e.g., Atkinson et al., 2009; Todorov et al., 2005), hiring (e.g., Dion et al., 1972; Zebrowitz et al., 1991), and criminal sentencing (e.g., Sigall & Ostrove, 1975; Blair et al.,2004; Jaeger et al., 2020). Although many studies have examined face perception because of its social significance (see Oruc et al., 2019; Young, 2021, for reviews), comparatively little research has focused on the effects of hair, which can be considered as a part of face, on face perception in cognitive psychology (e.g., Toseeb et al., 2012). This limited attention may stem from the view that hair constitutes noise or an extraneous variable that artificially distorts face perception. Consequently, much research has conventionally removed hair or controlled hair color using grayscale images to investigate the nature of face perception when presenting faces as experimental stimuli. That said, most actual faces include hair of various colors, including gray and these differences may influence viewers’ impressions in social contexts. For example, impressions of individuals with colored hair have shown consistent patterns across generations (Nakagawa, 2019). Given that a variety of hair colors are pervasive around us and that faces guide many social judgments, it is important to examine how hair color affects face perception. In Japan, black hair is standard and has traditionally been regarded as a sign of beauty for women. Although the number of people who dye their hair for fashion has increased since the 1990s (Matsuoka, 2002), colored hair remains relatively unpopular in public settings such as schools and workplaces and is often subject to stereotypes, which motivated this study. Under such everyday conditions, how is colored hair basically processed at the early stage of facial perception? The present study examined how hair color affects facial perception, focusing on facial attractiveness and identification. Previous research (Wills & Todorov, 2006) investigated the time required for trait judgments from faces. Participants judged traits including facial attractiveness for a facial stimulus with the duration of either 100, 500, or 1,000 ms or with no limit of the presentation time. The trait judgment of faces even with 100-ms duration positively correlated with that with no limit of the presentation time. Furthermore, the subsequent study showed that participants could form steady judgments of preference after a mere 50-ms exposure to a female face (Rule & Ambady, 2008). These findings suggest that facial attractiveness can be judged very rapidly, within approximately 50–100 ms. Another study (Bar et al., 2006) examined the minimum duration required for facial identification. Participants were exposed to a facial stimulus of neutral expression with the duration of either 26, 39, or 1,700 ms, followed immediately by a recognition test. Recognition accuracy exceeded chance when duration of facial stimuli was as long as 39 ms. This result suggested that facial identification is possible at least with the duration of 39 ms. Note, however, that these previous studies used facial stimuli lacking head or of grayscale images, meaning that the effects of hair color were strictly controlled. Building on this prior work, we examined whether facial attractiveness and identification are influenced by hair color when faces are presented for a brief duration. We predicted that colored hair would exogenously capture viewers’ attention because of its salience or uniqueness (e.g., Rauschenberger, 2003; Theeuwes, 1994), which in turn would impair the attractiveness judgment and identification for faces shown for very short durations. Experiment 1 Experiment 1 examined how the attractiveness judgment is influenced by colored hair, manipulating the duration of facial presentations. Ethical statement All experiments in this study were approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Chuo University (approval number: 2024-049). Written informed consent was obtained from each participant before the experiment. Method Participants We recruited 32 participants (16 females, mean age = 21.5 years) who were naïve to the purpose of this study. All participants had normal or corrected-to-normal vision. Apparatus The stimuli were presented on a 23.8-inch monitor (GW2470, BenQ) with a refresh rate of 50 Hz and a resolution of 1,920 × 1,080 pixels. MATLAB with the PsychoPhysics Toolbox extensions (Brainard, 1997; Pelli, 1997) was used to control stimulus presentation and collection of data. Stimuli Color photographs of head-up shots of 80 Japanese models (40 females, aged 18-23) with neutral expressions were used as stimuli. They were controlled for distance, angle, and luminance. Each photograph subtended 5° × 5° of visual angle. The viewing distance was fixed at 57 cm using a chin rest. We edited 80 photographs by changing color of hair (YouCam Make, Perfect Corp.), creating 80 black hair and 80 blond hair images (160 images in total). From these 160 images, we constructed 2 stimulus sets, each of which included 20 black hair images of men, 20 blond hair images of men, 20 black hair images of women, and 20 blond hair images of women without duplication of identity. One set was used for half of the participants, and the other set was for the other half. Procedure When participants pressed the response key on the keyboard, a fixation cross appeared for 500 ms (Figure 1). After that, one of the images appeared in the center of the screen for either 60 ms or 1,700 ms, followed by a color-noise mask of 1,000 ms. Participants were asked to rate the attractiveness of the presented face on a 5-point scale (1 = not attractive at all; 5 = very attractive for half of the participants, with the reverse scale used for the others). They were instructed in advance to judge the attractiveness by focusing on the face while ignoring the hair. After each rating, the next trial automatically began with an inter-trial interval of 500 ms. Hair color (blond or black) was manipulated within participants, with 40 black hair and 40 blond hair images presented in random order (80 trials in total). Stimulus duration (60 ms or 1,700 ms) was manipulated between participants (16 participants for each). Participants completed 10 practice trials followed by 80 experimental trials. Results The attractiveness scores were converted so that “5” would be the most attractive. We calculated the mean attractiveness rating made by all the participants for each image under each stimulus duration condition. First, the mean attractiveness ratings were significantly and positively correlated between the durations of 60 and 1,700 ms for both blond hair ( N = 80, r = 0.60, p < .001, Figure 2a) and black hair images ( N = 80, r = 0.54, p < .001, Figure 2b). The strength of these correlations did not differ significantly ( N = 80, z = 0.55, p = .58). Second, the mean attractiveness ratings were significantly and positively correlated between the blond and black hair images irrespective of whether the stimulus duration was 60 ms ( N = 80, r = 0.81, p < .001, Figure 3a) or 1,700 ms ( N = 80, r = 0.59, p < .001, Figure 3b). The correlation was significantly weaker at 1,700 ms than at 60 ms ( N = 80, z = 2.72, p < .01). To see whether blond hair increased or decreased the attractiveness ratings, we compared mean attractiveness scores for each image among conditions (Figure 4). A within-subject 2 (hair color: blond and black) × 2 (stimulus duration: 60 and 1,700 ms) two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) demonstrated a significant main effect of stimulus duration ( F [1,79] = 71.58, p < .001, η p 2 = .475). Neither the main effect of hair color ( F [1,79] = 0.84, p = .36, η p 2 = .011) nor the interaction ( F [1,79] = 0.25, p = .62, η p 2 = .003) was significant. Discussion We investigated how colored hair influences the attractiveness judgment for faces presented for short and long durations. First, the attractiveness ratings made for 60-ms faces with black hair were positively correlated with those for 1,700-ms faces, replicating previous findings (Rule & Ambady, 2008; Wills & Todorov, 2006). Second, even though the hair color was changed to blond, this rapid and stable evaluation was preserved, with the comparable equal effect size. Third, the attractiveness ratings made for individuals of blond hair were positively correlated with the same individuals of black hair, independently of the stimulus duration, though the correlation was weaker for long than for short duration. Fourth, the attractiveness ratings were lower for long than for short durations. Taken together, these results suggest that the attractiveness ratings are relatively fixed (but overestimated) at least for the duration of 60 ms immune to hair color, yet afterwards decreased (or corrected) by the longer duration of 1,700 ms in response to hair color. Contrary to the prediction, current evidence that hair color did not influence the consistency of the attractiveness judgment between short and long durations suggested that participants were able to ignore colored hair in evaluating faces. However, given the relatively weaker correlation between the black and blond hair images in the long duration, participants spontaneously incorporated hair color into the facial evaluation with a long observation, correcting the attractiveness. Because the facial attractiveness is formed based on holistic processing (Rhodes, 2006; Rhodes et al., 2001), hair would have been automatically used in its formation as holistic information. Experiment 2 Experiment 2 examined how identification judgments are influenced by colored hair, manipulating the duration of facial presentation. Method Participants We recruited 32 participants (16 females, mean age = 20.6 years) who were naïve to the purpose of this study. All participants had normal or corrected-to-normal vision. Apparatus and Stimuli The apparatus and stimuli were the same as in Experiment 1, except that we additionally edited 80 photographs by removing head for the alternatives in the recognition test (Figure 5; see Procedure). Procedure The procedure was the same as in Experiment 1 except for the following changes. Instead of the attractiveness rating display used in Experiment 1, a test display consisting of 4 head-lacking faces (alternatives) was presented. Among these faces, one face was the “old” target whose identity was same as that of the immediately preceding face, and the other three faces were “new” distractors of the same gender as the target randomly selected from the other stimulus set. Participants were required to select the target from the test display. Results We calculated the mean recognition accuracy of each participant under each hair color and stimulus duration condition and then averaged across participants (Figure 6). First, conducting two-tailed one-sample t -tests (vs. chance level = 25 %), we found significantly higher accuracies under all the conditions ( t (15) = 6.86, p < .001, d = 1.71; t (15) = 10.15, p < .001 , d = 2.54; t (15) = 39.74, p < .001, d = 9.93; t (15) = 6.86, p < .001, d = 32.78). Second, a mixed-design 2 (hair color: blond and black; a within-subjects factor) × 2 (stimulus duration: 60 and 1,700 ms; a between-subjects factor) ANOVA demonstrated significant main effects of stimulus duration ( F [1,30] = 122.00, p < .001, η p 2 = .36) and hair color ( F [1,30] = 16.80, p < .001, η p 2 = .80). The interaction was also significant ( F [1,30] = 22.70, p < .001, η p 2 = .43), which was derived from the lower accuracy for blond than for black hair images at the duration of 60 ms ( t [30] = 6.27, p < .001) and no such difference at the duration of 1,700 ms ( t [30] = 0.47, p = .64). Discussion We investigated how colored hair influenced the identity judgment for short and long durations. First, because the mean recognition accuracy was above chance irrespective of the hair color and stimulus duration, participants were able to identify faces of a 60-ms duration to some degree even with blond hair, replicating and extending previous findings with head-lacking faces (Bar et al., 2006). Second, mean recognition accuracy was lower for blond than for black hair images when they appeared for 60 ms, but not for 1,700 ms. This means that blond hair disrupted the identification judgment only in short duration, which is consistent with the prediction derived from exogenous attentional capture (e.g., Rauschenberger, 2003; Theeuwes, 1994). Participants’ attention would have been quickly and exogenously captured by salient hair color, which in turn disrupted visual processing regarding the identity. As for the long duration, they could have voluntarily ignored hair color. General Discussion Previous research on face perception has strictly controlled for hair even though hair is usually processed with the face in actual interpersonal situations. The present study investigated how colored hair influences face perception, especially the attractiveness judgment and identification, manipulating the stimulus duration. In Experiment 1, we showed that the facial attractiveness rating was relatively consistent between the durations of 60 and 1,700 ms irrespective of hair color, replicating and extending previous findings (Rule & Ambady, 2008; Wills & Todorov, 2006). Moreover, the individual attractiveness was relatively consistent between blond and black hair images at the duration of 60 ms, but reduced and diversified in response to hair color at the duration of 1,700 ms. Therefore, the attractiveness rating would be overestimated with the short observation free from hair color, but subsequently corrected with the long observation with colored hair. In Experiment 2, we showed that the identification accuracy was above chance whether hair color was blond or black and whether the stimulus duration was 60 or 1,700 ms, replicating and extending previous findings (Bar et al., 2006). However, the identification accuracy was lower for blond than for black hair images when they appeared for 60 ms, but not for 1,700 ms. Therefore, blond hair disrupted the identification only at the short duration, which was consistent with the prediction based on attentional capture. It is likely that visual attention was exogenously captured by blond hair due to its saliency or uniqueness (e.g., Rauschenberger, 2003; Theeuwes, 1994) at least in Japan, which disrupted the identification of the briefly visible face. Attention would have been endogenously directed to the face while ignoring the hair when there was sufficient time to observe the stimulus. One may argue that the observed effects of colored hair stem from artificiality introduced by image editing. However, this possibility is unlikely because we edited not only blond but also black hair images based on the original images in both Experiments 1 and 2. Taken together, we found two distinct functions of hair color in face perception at different time courses. First, colored hair could exogenously disrupt the identification, but not the attractiveness judgment, of the briefly presented faces. Second, colored hair could be spontaneously incorporated into the facial attractiveness judgment, but not influential on identification, of the lengthily presented faces. Because object identification generally requires attention as proposed in the feature-integration theory (Treisman & Gelade, 1980) or the two-stage model on temporal visual processing (Chun & Potter, 1995), it is vulnerable to the disadvantage of visual attention as seen in various deficits in visual processing (Mack & Rock, 1998; Raymond et al., 1992; Simons et al., 1998; Treisman & Schmidt, 1982). By analogy, face identification in Experiment 2 would be disrupted by attention temporarily deprived by colored hair since it also requires attention (Lavie et al., 2003) based on not only holistic but also local processing (Bruce & Young, 1986; Maurer et al., 2002). On the other hand, the attractiveness judgment would be unaffected by temporary attentional deprivation in Experiment 1, which is consistent with previous evidence that the attractiveness judgment does not necessarily require attention (Hung et al., 2016; Olson & Marshuetz, 2005; Sasaki & Ariga, in press). Interestingly, at the long duration, colored hair was automatically used for the facial attractiveness judgment in Experiment 1, even though participants were able to voluntarily direct their attention to the face while ignoring the hair. This is likely because the attractiveness judgment is primarily achieved through holistic processing (Rhodes, 2006; Rhodes et al., 2001). The longer observation allowed participants to process the surrounding information holistically, perceiving the face and hair as a single unit. Therefore, the effects of hair are unavoidable in the facial attractiveness judgment. Several limitations should be noted. First, it remains unclear that attention was indeed directed toward blond hair. To address this, future research should directly examine attentional allocation, for example using a dot-probe task (MacLeod et al., 1986). Second, cultural differences may have influenced present findings. In Japan, black hair has been traditionally standard and a sign of beauty, deviating blond hair. It would be interesting to investigate whether black hair disrupts facial identification in other countries where blond hair is standard. If it were the case, the current findings could not be explained by physical characteristics of hair color, but by social or cultural norms. In sum, colored hair disrupts accurate identification at a quick glance, whereas it affects the attractiveness judgment during extended observation. Importantly, these processes occur automatically even though viewers try to ignore hair. Therefore, we should/could not ignore the effects of hair color when investigating face perception, especially under social situations. Declarations Acknowledgements This study was supported by a Research Cluster Formation Support System of Chuo University and a Chuo University Grant for Special Research to A. A., and Chuo University Institute of Cultural Sciences. Competing Interests None. References Atkinson, M. D., Enos, R. D., & Hill, S. J. (2009). Candidate faces and election outcomes: Is the face–vote correlation caused by candidate selection? Quarterly Journal of Political Science, 4 (3), 229–249. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/100.00008062 Bar, M., Neta, M., & Linz, H. (2006). Very first impressions. Emotion, 6 (2), 269–278. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.6.2.269 Blair, I. V., Judd, C. M., & Chapleau, K. M. (2004). The influence of Afrocentric facial features in criminal sentencing. Psychological Science, 15 (10), 674–679. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00739.x Brainard, D. H. (1997). The psychophysics toolbox. Spatial Vision, 10 (4), 433–436. https://doi.org/10.1163/156856897X00357 Bruce, V., & Young, A. (1986). Understanding face recognition. British Journal of Psychology, 77 (3), 305–327. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1986.tb02199.x Chun, M. M., & Potter, M. C. (1995). A two-stage model for multiple target detection in rapid serial visual presentation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 21 (1), 109–127. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.21.1.109 Dion, K., Berscheid, E., & Walster, E. (1972). What is beautiful is good. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24 (3), 285–290. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0033731 Hung, S.M., Nieh, C.H., & Hsieh, P.J. (2016). Unconscious processing of facial attractiveness: invisible attractive faces orient visual attention. Scientific Reports, 6 , 37117. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep37117 Jaeger, B., Todorov, A. T., Evans, A. M., & van Beest, I. (2020). Can we reduce facial biases? Persistent effects of facial trustworthiness on sentencing decisions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 90, Article 104004. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2020.104004 Lavie, N., Ro, T., & Russell, C. (2003). The role of perceptual load in processing distractor faces. Psychological Science, 14 (5), 510–515. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.03453 Mack, A., & Rock, I. (1998). Inattentional blindness. MIT Press. MacLeod, C., Mathews, A., & Tata, P. (1986). Attentional bias in emotional disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95 (1), 15–20. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.95.1.15 Matsuoka, S. (2002). Who said Japanese people have black hair? NIPPONIA, Retrieved March 15, 2002 from https://web-japan.org/nipponia/nipponia20/en/trend/index.html Maurer, D., Le Grand, R., & Mondloch, C. J. (2002). The many faces of configural processing. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6 (6), 255–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(02)01903-4 Nakagawa, T. (2019). Analysis of gender and generation-related differences in interpersonal impressions generated by hair colors. Journal of the Color Science Association of Japan. 43 (3). 90-93. https://doi.org/10.15048/jcsaj.43.3__90 Olson, I.R., & Marshuetz, C. (2005). Facial attractiveness is appraised in a glance. Emotion, 5 (4), 498–502. doi: 10.1037/1528-3542.5.4.498. PMID: 16366753. Oruc, I., Benjamin Balasc, B., & Landy, M. S. (2019). Face perception: A brief journey through recent discoveries and current directions. Vision Research, 157 , 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2019.06.005 Pelli, D. G. (1997).The video toolbox software for visual psychophysics: Transforming numbers into movies. Spatial Vision, 10 (4), 437–442. https://doi.org/10.1163/156856897X00366 Rhodes, G. (2006). The evolutionary psychology of facial beauty. Annual Review of Psychology, 57 , 199–226. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190208 Rhodes, G., Brake, S., Taylor, K., & Tan, S. (2001). Expertise and configural coding in face recognition. British Journal of Psychology, 92 (4), 713–731. https://doi.org/10.1348/000712601162400 Rule, N. O., & Ambady, N. (2008). Brief exposures: Male sexual orientation is accurately perceived at 50ms. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44 (4), 1100–1105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2007.12.001 Rauschenberger, R. (2003). Attentional capture by auto- and allo-cues. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 10 (4), 814–842. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196545 Raymond, J. E., Shapiro, K. L., & Arnell, K. M. (1992). Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP task: An attentional blink? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 18 (3), 849–860. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.18.3.849 Sasaki, K., & Ariga, A. (2025). The automatic uncanny valley phenomenon: Task-irrelevant shape dimensions reduce the likeability of morphed figures. Visual Cognition , 33 (6), 396–402. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2026.2616300 Sigall, H., & Ostrove, N. (1975). Beautiful but dangerous: Effects of offender attractiveness and nature of the crime on juridic judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31 (3), 410–414. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076472 Simons, D. J., & Levin, D. T. (1998). Failure to detect changes to people during a real-world interaction. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 5 (4), 644–649. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03208840 Theeuwes, J. (1994). Stimulus-driven capture and attentional set: Selective search for color and visual abrupt onsets. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 20 (4), 799–806. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.20.4.799 Todorov, A., Mandisodza, A. N., Goren, A., & Hall, C. C. (2005). Inferences of competence from faces predict election outcomes. Science, 308 (5728), 1623–1626. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1110589 Toseeb, U., Keeble, D. R. T., & Bryant, E. J. (2012). The significance of hair for face recognition. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0034144 Treisman, A. M., & Gelade, G. (1980). A feature-integration theory of attention. Cognitive Psychology, 12 (1), 97–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(80)90005-5 Treisman, A. M., & Schmidt, H. (1982). Illusory conjunctions in the perception of objects. Cognitive Psychology, 14 (1), 107–141. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(82)90006-8 Wills, J. & Todorov, A. (2006). First impressions: Making up your mind after a 100-ms exposure to a face. Psychological Science. 17 (7). 592-598. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01750.x Young, A. W. (2021). Face perception. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology . Oxford University Press. https://oxfordre.com/psychology Zebrowitz, L. A. (2017). First impressions from faces. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26 (3), 237–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721416683996 Zebrowitz, L. A., Tenenbaum, D. R., & Goldstein, L. H. (1991). The impact of job applicants' facial maturity, gender, and academic achievement on hiring recommendations. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21 (7), 525–548. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1991.tb00535.x Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8840523","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":590088763,"identity":"bafcf5cb-e796-42c5-abe2-c088ae74f67c","order_by":0,"name":"Megumi Kitsugi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Chuo University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Megumi","middleName":"","lastName":"Kitsugi","suffix":""},{"id":590088764,"identity":"14579959-5c7d-427f-a020-8adf723e7a85","order_by":1,"name":"Atsunori Ariga","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABD0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJCCAwwMbDzy7A0MDIwNcEE2Qlr4ZAx7DpCgBQjkbBhuJKBowQ34288+PPilxoyHcebzCww/dxyWY5BIYPzwg4EvD5cWiTPpBodljqXxsEvnFDD2njlsDNTCLNnDwFaM2yNpDIcl2I7xMM7OSWBmbDucuB/oQmmgXxJxOVL+/DOgln//eRhunoFoaQDa8hufFoMbaQwHP7ax8TDcYD8A08KG1xbDG0BbGPvYeAx7chgO9ralGzPwPGyz7DHA7Re582nMH398Y7OXZz/+8MHPNms5Bvbkwzd+VBzDGWIgwMwDpngMDkD4oNgxOJaATwvjDzDF/gBZsAavllEwCkbBKBhRAAB1DFY4JXMn2AAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Chuo University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Atsunori","middleName":"","lastName":"Ariga","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-10 11:46:25","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8840523/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8840523/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":104071855,"identity":"dee940c0-b3b4-4162-91d0-e1e9c5ba3ec4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-06 12:03:19","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":105043,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA schematic illustration of one trial in Experiment 1. The stimulus and mask were presented in color in the actual experiment.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8840523/v1/4dbbf983d36a613bc6e39ad5.png"},{"id":104071857,"identity":"89717236-132f-4c54-8ac6-7f10cc3d7c08","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-06 12:03:19","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":176349,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe correlations between the stimulus durations of 60 and 1,700 ms for blond hair images (a) and black hair images (b).\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8840523/v1/92496006d04b620a742a0e7f.png"},{"id":104402983,"identity":"c42323ea-3f47-4ae2-b775-0f2f8127d0bb","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-11 12:17:05","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":153787,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe correlations between the blond and black hair images for the stimulus duration of 60 ms (a) and 1,700 ms (b).\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8840523/v1/bd335489f04fa2d0258d92ff.png"},{"id":104403205,"identity":"223e0397-1109-45ce-ad1b-1276e292eebc","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-11 12:17:44","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":50129,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe mean attractiveness scores for blond and black hair images under stimulus durations of 60 and 1,700 ms.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote\u003c/em\u003e. Error bars indicate the standard error of the mean.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8840523/v1/e655a52be0e115f7285ce3c5.png"},{"id":104071860,"identity":"201467d0-7783-4881-8b11-e212391bfcb2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-06 12:03:19","extension":"png","order_by":5,"title":"Figure 5","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":108741,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA schematic illustration of one trial in Experiment 2. The stimulus and mask were presented in color in the actual experiment.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"5.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8840523/v1/002ddf88ff11e3d991b615e2.png"},{"id":104071859,"identity":"c918e2a0-34ab-4678-bb69-7b35722b59cb","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-06 12:03:19","extension":"png","order_by":6,"title":"Figure 6","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":71971,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe mean recognition accuracy for blond and black hair images under stimulus durations of 60 and 1,700 ms.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote\u003c/em\u003e. Error bars indicate the standard error of the mean.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"6.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8840523/v1/2bdf1c2c06fc27e18c5102f2.png"},{"id":108987202,"identity":"4268d5a7-ec85-48cc-b5d4-eba885f27b2f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-11 12:59:54","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":774471,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8840523/v1/b59e3a78-ec54-4b47-a818-5cf68aec9de0.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Colored hair affects the facial attractiveness judgment and identification at different time courses","fulltext":[{"header":"Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eFaces are socially important cues that convey extensive information, enabling us to infer identity, emotional states, personality traits, and social or physical attributes such as gender, age, race, and health of others. In fact, faces form viewers\u0026rsquo; first impressions (Zebrowitz, 2017), which in turn influence important decisions in social life, for example, voting (e.g., Atkinson et al., 2009; Todorov et al., 2005), hiring (e.g., Dion et al., 1972; Zebrowitz et al., 1991), and criminal sentencing (e.g., Sigall \u0026amp; Ostrove, 1975;\u0026nbsp;Blair et al.,2004; Jaeger et al., 2020). Although many studies have examined face perception because of its social significance (see Oruc et al., 2019; Young, 2021, for reviews), comparatively little research has focused on the effects of hair, which can be considered as a part of face, on face perception in cognitive psychology (e.g., Toseeb et al., 2012). This\u0026nbsp;limited attention may stem from the view that hair constitutes noise or an extraneous variable that artificially distorts face perception. Consequently, much research has conventionally removed hair or controlled hair color using grayscale images to investigate the nature of face perception when presenting faces as experimental stimuli.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat said, most actual faces include hair of various colors, including gray and these differences may influence viewers\u0026rsquo; impressions in social contexts. For example, impressions of individuals with colored hair have shown consistent patterns across generations (Nakagawa, 2019). Given that a variety of hair colors are pervasive around us and that faces guide many social judgments, it is important to examine how hair color affects face perception. In Japan, black hair is standard and has traditionally been regarded as a sign of beauty for women. Although the number of people who dye their hair for fashion has increased since the 1990s (Matsuoka, 2002), colored hair remains relatively unpopular in public settings such as schools and workplaces and is often subject to stereotypes, which motivated this study. Under such everyday conditions, how is colored hair basically processed at the early stage of facial perception?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe present study examined how hair color affects facial perception, focusing on facial attractiveness and identification. Previous research (Wills \u0026amp; Todorov, 2006) investigated the time required for trait judgments from faces. Participants judged traits including facial attractiveness for a facial stimulus with the duration of either 100, 500, or 1,000 ms or with no limit of the presentation time. The trait judgment of faces even with 100-ms duration positively correlated with that with no limit of the presentation time. Furthermore, the subsequent study showed that participants could form steady judgments of preference after a mere 50-ms exposure to a female face (Rule \u0026amp; Ambady, 2008). These findings suggest that facial attractiveness can be judged very rapidly, within approximately 50\u0026ndash;100 ms. Another study (Bar et al., 2006) examined the minimum duration required for facial identification. Participants were exposed to a facial stimulus of neutral expression with the duration of either 26, 39, or 1,700 ms, followed immediately by a recognition test. Recognition accuracy exceeded chance when duration of facial stimuli was as long as 39 ms. This result suggested that facial identification is possible at least with the duration of 39 ms.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNote, however, that these previous studies used facial stimuli lacking head or of grayscale images, meaning that the effects of hair color were strictly controlled. Building on this prior work, we examined whether facial attractiveness and identification are influenced by hair color when faces are presented for a brief duration. We predicted that colored hair would exogenously capture viewers\u0026rsquo; attention because of its salience or uniqueness (e.g., Rauschenberger, 2003; Theeuwes, 1994), which in turn would impair the attractiveness judgment and identification for faces shown for very short durations.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Experiment 1","content":"\u003cp\u003eExperiment 1 examined how the attractiveness judgment is influenced by colored hair, manipulating the duration of facial presentations.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp id=\"_Toc216644678\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEthical statement\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll experiments in this study were approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Chuo University (approval number: 2024-049). Written informed consent was obtained from each participant before the experiment.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp id=\"_Toc216644679\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMethod\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eParticipants\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe recruited 32 participants (16 females, mean age = 21.5 years) who were na\u0026iuml;ve to the purpose of this study. All participants had normal or corrected-to-normal vision.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eApparatus\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe stimuli were presented on a 23.8-inch monitor (GW2470, BenQ) with a refresh rate of 50 Hz and a resolution of 1,920 \u0026times; 1,080 pixels. MATLAB with the PsychoPhysics Toolbox extensions (Brainard, 1997; Pelli, 1997) was used to control stimulus presentation and collection of data.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eStimuli\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eColor photographs of head-up shots of 80 Japanese models (40 females, aged 18-23) with neutral expressions were used as stimuli. They were controlled for distance, angle, and luminance. Each photograph subtended 5\u0026deg; \u0026times; 5\u0026deg; of visual angle. The viewing distance was fixed at 57 cm using a chin rest.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe edited 80 photographs by changing color of hair (YouCam Make, Perfect Corp.), creating 80 black hair and 80 blond hair images (160 images in total). From these 160 images, we constructed 2 stimulus sets, each of which included 20 black hair images of men, 20 blond hair images of men, 20 black hair images of women, and 20 blond hair images of women without duplication of identity. One set was used for half of the participants, and the other set was for the other half.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eProcedure\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen participants pressed the response key on the keyboard, a fixation cross appeared for 500 ms (Figure 1). After that, one of the images appeared in the center of the screen for either 60 ms or 1,700 ms, followed by a color-noise mask of 1,000 ms. Participants were asked to rate the attractiveness of the presented face on a 5-point scale (1 = not attractive at all; 5 = very attractive for half of the participants, with the reverse scale used for the others). They were instructed in advance to judge the attractiveness by focusing on the face while ignoring the hair. After each rating, the next trial automatically began with an inter-trial interval of 500 ms. Hair color (blond or black) was manipulated within participants, with 40 black hair and 40 blond hair images presented in random order (80 trials in total). Stimulus duration (60 ms or 1,700 ms) was manipulated between participants (16 participants for each). Participants completed 10 practice trials followed by 80 experimental trials.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResults\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe attractiveness scores were converted so that \u0026ldquo;5\u0026rdquo; would be the most attractive. We calculated the mean attractiveness rating made by all the participants for each image under each stimulus duration condition. First, the mean attractiveness ratings were significantly and positively correlated between the durations of 60 and 1,700 ms for both blond hair (\u003cem\u003eN\u003c/em\u003e = 80, \u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e = 0.60, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001, Figure 2a) and black hair images (\u003cem\u003eN\u003c/em\u003e = 80, \u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e = 0.54, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001, Figure 2b). The strength of these correlations did not differ significantly (\u003cem\u003eN\u003c/em\u003e = 80, \u003cem\u003ez\u003c/em\u003e = 0.55, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .58).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSecond, the mean attractiveness ratings were significantly and positively correlated between the blond and black hair images irrespective of whether the stimulus duration was 60 ms (\u003cem\u003eN\u003c/em\u003e = 80, \u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e = 0.81, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001, Figure 3a) or 1,700 ms (\u003cem\u003eN\u003c/em\u003e = 80, \u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e = 0.59, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001, Figure 3b). The correlation was significantly weaker at 1,700 ms than at 60 ms (\u003cem\u003eN\u003c/em\u003e = 80, \u003cem\u003ez\u003c/em\u003e = 2.72, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .01).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo see whether blond hair increased or decreased the attractiveness ratings, we compared mean attractiveness scores for each image among conditions (Figure 4). A within-subject 2 (hair color: blond and black) \u0026times; 2 (stimulus duration: 60 and 1,700 ms) two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) demonstrated a significant main effect of stimulus duration (\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e[1,79] = 71.58, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u0026nbsp;2\u003c/sup\u003e = .475). Neither the main effect of hair color (\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e[1,79] = 0.84, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .36, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u0026nbsp;2\u0026nbsp;\u003c/sup\u003e= .011) nor the interaction (\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e[1,79] = 0.25, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .62, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u0026nbsp;2\u003c/sup\u003e = .003) was significant.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDiscussion\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe investigated how colored hair influences the attractiveness judgment for faces presented for short and long durations. First, the attractiveness ratings made for 60-ms faces with black hair were positively correlated with those for 1,700-ms faces, replicating previous findings (Rule \u0026amp; Ambady, 2008; Wills \u0026amp; Todorov, 2006). Second, even though the hair color was changed to blond, this rapid and stable evaluation was preserved, with the comparable equal effect size. Third, the attractiveness ratings made for individuals of blond hair were positively correlated with the same individuals of black hair, independently of the stimulus duration, though the correlation was weaker for long than for short duration. Fourth, the attractiveness ratings were lower for long than for short durations. Taken together, these results suggest that the attractiveness ratings are relatively fixed (but overestimated) at least for the duration of 60 ms immune to hair color, yet afterwards decreased (or corrected) by the longer duration of 1,700 ms in response to hair color.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eContrary to the prediction, current evidence that hair color did not influence the consistency of the attractiveness judgment between short and long durations suggested that participants were able to ignore colored hair in evaluating faces. However, given the relatively weaker correlation between the black and blond hair images in the long duration, participants spontaneously incorporated hair color into the facial evaluation with a long observation, correcting the attractiveness. Because the facial attractiveness is formed based on holistic processing (Rhodes, 2006; Rhodes et al., 2001), hair would have been automatically used in its formation as holistic information.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Experiment 2","content":"\u003cp\u003eExperiment 2 examined how identification judgments are influenced by colored hair, manipulating the duration of facial presentation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp id=\"_Toc216644683\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMethod\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eParticipants\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe recruited 32 participants (16 females, mean age = 20.6 years) who were na\u0026iuml;ve to the purpose of this study. All participants had normal or corrected-to-normal vision.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eApparatus and Stimuli\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe apparatus and stimuli were the same as in Experiment 1, except that we additionally edited 80 photographs by removing head for the alternatives in the recognition test (Figure 5; see Procedure).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eProcedure\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe procedure was the same as in Experiment 1 except for the following changes. Instead of the attractiveness rating display used in Experiment 1, a test display consisting of 4 head-lacking faces (alternatives) was presented. Among these faces, one face was the \u0026ldquo;old\u0026rdquo; target whose identity was same as that of the immediately preceding face, and the other three faces were \u0026ldquo;new\u0026rdquo; distractors of the same gender as the target randomly selected from the other stimulus set. Participants were required to select the target from the test display.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp id=\"_Toc216644684\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResults\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe calculated the mean recognition accuracy of each participant under each hair color and stimulus duration condition and then averaged across participants (Figure 6). First, conducting two-tailed one-sample \u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e-tests (vs. chance level = 25 %), we found significantly higher accuracies under all the conditions (\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(15) = 6.86, \u003cem\u003ep\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003ed\u003c/em\u003e = 1.71; \u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(15) = 10.15, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001 , \u003cem\u003ed\u003c/em\u003e = 2.54; \u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(15) = 39.74, \u003cem\u003ep\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003ed\u003c/em\u003e = 9.93; \u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(15) = 6.86, \u003cem\u003ep\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003ed\u003c/em\u003e = 32.78).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSecond, a mixed-design 2 (hair color: blond and black; a within-subjects factor) \u0026times; 2 (stimulus duration: 60 and 1,700 ms; a between-subjects factor) ANOVA demonstrated significant main effects of stimulus duration (\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e[1,30] = 122.00, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e = .36) and hair color (\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e[1,30] = 16.80, \u003cem\u003ep\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u0026nbsp;2\u003c/sup\u003e = .80). The interaction was also significant (\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e[1,30] = 22.70, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e = .43), which was derived from the lower accuracy for blond than for black hair images at the duration of 60 ms (\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e[30] = 6.27, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001) and no such difference at the duration of 1,700 ms (\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e[30] = 0.47, \u003cem\u003ep\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e= .64).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp id=\"_Toc216644685\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDiscussion\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe investigated how colored hair influenced the identity judgment for short and long durations. First, because the mean recognition accuracy was above chance irrespective of the hair color and stimulus duration, participants were able to identify faces of a 60-ms duration to some degree even with blond hair, replicating and extending previous findings with head-lacking faces (Bar et al., 2006). Second, mean recognition accuracy was lower for blond than for black hair images when they appeared for 60 ms, but not for 1,700 ms. This means that blond hair disrupted the identification judgment only in short duration, which is consistent with the prediction derived from exogenous attentional capture (e.g., Rauschenberger, 2003; Theeuwes, 1994). Participants\u0026rsquo; attention would have been quickly and exogenously captured by salient hair color, which in turn disrupted visual processing regarding the identity. As for the long duration, they could have voluntarily ignored hair color.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"General Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003ePrevious research on face perception has strictly controlled for hair even though hair is usually processed with the face in actual interpersonal situations. The present study investigated how colored hair influences face perception, especially the attractiveness judgment and identification, manipulating the stimulus duration. In Experiment 1, we showed that the facial attractiveness rating was relatively consistent between the durations of 60 and 1,700 ms irrespective of hair color, replicating and extending previous findings (Rule \u0026amp; Ambady, 2008; Wills \u0026amp; Todorov, 2006). Moreover, the individual attractiveness was relatively consistent between blond and black hair images at the duration of 60 ms, but reduced and diversified in response to hair color at the duration of 1,700 ms. Therefore, the attractiveness rating would be overestimated with the short observation free from hair color, but subsequently corrected with the long observation with colored hair.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Experiment 2, we showed that the identification accuracy was above chance whether hair color was blond or black and whether the stimulus duration was 60 or 1,700 ms, replicating and extending previous findings (Bar et al., 2006). However, the identification accuracy was lower for blond than for black hair images when they appeared for 60 ms, but not for 1,700 ms. Therefore, blond hair disrupted the identification only at the short duration, which was consistent with the prediction based on attentional capture. It is likely that visual attention was exogenously captured by blond hair due to its saliency or uniqueness (e.g., Rauschenberger, 2003; Theeuwes, 1994) at least in Japan, which disrupted the identification of the briefly visible face. Attention would have been endogenously directed to the face while ignoring the hair when there was sufficient time to observe the stimulus. One may argue that the observed effects of colored hair stem from artificiality introduced by image editing. However, this possibility is unlikely because we edited not only blond but also black hair images based on the original images in both Experiments 1 and 2.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTaken together, we found two distinct functions of hair color in face perception at different time courses. First, colored hair could exogenously disrupt the identification, but not the attractiveness judgment, of the briefly presented faces. Second, colored hair could be spontaneously incorporated into the facial attractiveness judgment, but not influential on identification, of the lengthily presented faces. Because object identification generally requires attention as proposed in the feature-integration theory (Treisman \u0026amp; Gelade, 1980) or the two-stage model on temporal visual processing (Chun \u0026amp; Potter, 1995), it is vulnerable to the disadvantage of visual attention as seen in various deficits in visual processing (Mack \u0026amp; Rock, 1998; Raymond et al., 1992; Simons et al., 1998; Treisman \u0026amp; Schmidt, 1982). By analogy, face identification in Experiment 2 would be disrupted by attention temporarily deprived by colored hair since it also requires attention (Lavie et al., 2003) based on not only holistic but also local processing (Bruce \u0026amp; Young, 1986; Maurer et al., 2002). On the other hand, the attractiveness judgment would be unaffected by temporary attentional deprivation in Experiment 1, which is consistent with previous evidence that the attractiveness judgment does not necessarily require attention (Hung et al., 2016; Olson \u0026amp; Marshuetz, 2005; Sasaki \u0026amp; Ariga, in press).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInterestingly, at the long duration, colored hair was automatically used for the facial attractiveness judgment in Experiment 1, even though participants were able to voluntarily direct their attention to the face while ignoring the hair. This is likely because the attractiveness judgment is primarily achieved through holistic processing (Rhodes, 2006; Rhodes et al., 2001). The longer observation allowed participants to process the surrounding information holistically, perceiving the face and hair as a single unit. Therefore, the effects of hair are unavoidable in the facial attractiveness judgment.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeveral limitations should be noted. First, it remains unclear that attention was indeed directed toward blond hair. To address this, future research should directly examine attentional allocation, for example using a dot-probe task (MacLeod et al., 1986). Second, cultural differences may have influenced present findings. In Japan, black hair has been traditionally standard and a sign of beauty, deviating blond hair. It would be interesting to investigate whether black hair disrupts facial identification in other countries where blond hair is standard. If it were the case, the current findings could not be explained by physical characteristics of hair color, but by social or cultural norms.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn sum, colored hair disrupts accurate identification at a quick glance, whereas it affects the attractiveness judgment during extended observation. Importantly, these processes occur automatically even though viewers try to ignore hair. Therefore, we should/could not ignore the effects of hair color when investigating face perception, especially under social situations.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003eAcknowledgements\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis study was supported by a Research Cluster Formation Support System of Chuo University and a Chuo University Grant for Special Research to A. A., and Chuo University Institute of Cultural Sciences.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCompeting Interests\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNone.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAtkinson, M. D., Enos, R. D., \u0026amp; Hill, S. J. (2009). Candidate faces and election outcomes: Is the face\u0026ndash;vote correlation caused by candidate selection? \u003cem\u003eQuarterly Journal of Political Science, 4\u003c/em\u003e(3), 229\u0026ndash;249. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/100.00008062\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBar, M., Neta, M., \u0026amp; Linz, H. (2006). Very first impressions. \u003cem\u003eEmotion, 6\u003c/em\u003e(2), 269\u0026ndash;278. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.6.2.269\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBlair, I. V., Judd, C. M., \u0026amp; Chapleau, K. M. (2004). The influence of Afrocentric facial features in criminal sentencing. \u003cem\u003ePsychological Science, 15\u003c/em\u003e(10), 674\u0026ndash;679. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00739.x\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBrainard, D. H. (1997). The psychophysics toolbox. \u003cem\u003eSpatial Vision, 10\u003c/em\u003e(4), 433\u0026ndash;436. https://doi.org/10.1163/156856897X00357\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBruce, V., \u0026amp; Young, A. (1986). Understanding face recognition. \u003cem\u003eBritish Journal of Psychology, 77\u003c/em\u003e(3), 305\u0026ndash;327. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1986.tb02199.x\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChun, M. M., \u0026amp; Potter, M. C. (1995). A two-stage model for multiple target detection in rapid serial visual presentation. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 21\u003c/em\u003e(1), 109\u0026ndash;127. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.21.1.109\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDion, K., Berscheid, E., \u0026amp; Walster, E. (1972). What is beautiful is good. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24\u003c/em\u003e(3), 285\u0026ndash;290. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0033731\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHung, S.M., Nieh, C.H., \u0026amp; Hsieh, P.J. (2016). Unconscious processing of facial attractiveness: invisible attractive faces orient visual attention. \u003cem\u003eScientific Reports, 6\u003c/em\u003e, 37117. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep37117\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJaeger, B., Todorov, A. T., Evans, A. M., \u0026amp; van Beest, I. (2020). Can we reduce facial biases? Persistent effects of facial trustworthiness on sentencing decisions. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Experimental Social Psychology, 90,\u003c/em\u003e Article 104004. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2020.104004\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLavie, N., Ro, T., \u0026amp; Russell, C. (2003). The role of perceptual load in processing distractor faces. \u003cem\u003ePsychological Science, 14\u003c/em\u003e(5), 510\u0026ndash;515. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.03453\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMack, A., \u0026amp; Rock, I. (1998). \u003cem\u003eInattentional blindness.\u003c/em\u003e MIT Press.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMacLeod, C., Mathews, A., \u0026amp; Tata, P. (1986). Attentional bias in emotional disorders. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Abnormal Psychology, 95\u003c/em\u003e(1), 15\u0026ndash;20. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.95.1.15\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatsuoka, S. (2002). Who said Japanese people have black hair? \u003cem\u003eNIPPONIA, \u003c/em\u003eRetrieved\u003cem\u003e \u003c/em\u003eMarch 15, 2002 from https://web-japan.org/nipponia/nipponia20/en/trend/index.html\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMaurer, D., Le Grand, R., \u0026amp; Mondloch, C. J. (2002). The many faces of configural processing. \u003cem\u003eTrends in Cognitive Sciences, 6\u003c/em\u003e(6), 255\u0026ndash;260. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(02)01903-4\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNakagawa, T. (2019). Analysis of gender and generation-related differences in interpersonal impressions generated by hair colors. \u003cem\u003eJournal of the Color Science Association of Japan. 43\u003c/em\u003e(3). 90-93. https://doi.org/10.15048/jcsaj.43.3__90\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOlson, I.R., \u0026amp; Marshuetz, C. (2005). Facial attractiveness is appraised in a glance. \u003cem\u003eEmotion, 5\u003c/em\u003e(4), 498\u0026ndash;502. doi: 10.1037/1528-3542.5.4.498. PMID: 16366753.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOruc, I., Benjamin Balasc, B., \u0026amp; Landy, M. S. (2019). Face perception: A brief journey through recent discoveries and current directions. \u003cem\u003eVision Research, 157\u003c/em\u003e, 1\u0026ndash;9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2019.06.005\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePelli, D. G. (1997).The video toolbox software for visual psychophysics: Transforming numbers into movies. \u003cem\u003eSpatial Vision, 10\u003c/em\u003e(4), 437\u0026ndash;442. https://doi.org/10.1163/156856897X00366\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRhodes, G. (2006). The evolutionary psychology of facial beauty. \u003cem\u003eAnnual Review of Psychology, 57\u003c/em\u003e, 199\u0026ndash;226. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190208\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRhodes, G., Brake, S., Taylor, K., \u0026amp; Tan, S. (2001). Expertise and configural coding in face recognition. \u003cem\u003eBritish Journal of Psychology, 92\u003c/em\u003e(4), 713\u0026ndash;731. https://doi.org/10.1348/000712601162400\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRule, N. O., \u0026amp; Ambady, N. (2008). Brief exposures: Male sexual orientation is accurately perceived at 50ms. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44\u003c/em\u003e(4), 1100\u0026ndash;1105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2007.12.001\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRauschenberger, R. (2003). Attentional capture by auto- and allo-cues. \u003cem\u003ePsychonomic Bulletin \u0026amp; Review, 10\u003c/em\u003e(4), 814\u0026ndash;842. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196545\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRaymond, J. E., Shapiro, K. L., \u0026amp; Arnell, K. M. (1992). Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP task: An attentional blink? \u003cem\u003eJournal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 18\u003c/em\u003e(3), 849\u0026ndash;860. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.18.3.849\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSasaki, K., \u0026amp; Ariga, A. (2025). The automatic uncanny valley phenomenon: Task-irrelevant shape dimensions reduce the likeability of morphed figures. \u003cem\u003eVisual Cognition\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e33\u003c/em\u003e(6), 396\u0026ndash;402. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2026.2616300\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSigall, H., \u0026amp; Ostrove, N. (1975). Beautiful but dangerous: Effects of offender attractiveness and nature of the crime on juridic judgment. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31\u003c/em\u003e(3), 410\u0026ndash;414. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076472\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSimons, D. J., \u0026amp; Levin, D. T. (1998). Failure to detect changes to people during a real-world interaction. \u003cem\u003ePsychonomic Bulletin \u0026amp; Review, 5\u003c/em\u003e(4), 644\u0026ndash;649. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03208840 \u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTheeuwes, J. (1994). Stimulus-driven capture and attentional set: Selective search for color and visual abrupt onsets. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 20\u003c/em\u003e(4), 799\u0026ndash;806. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.20.4.799\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTodorov, A., Mandisodza, A. N., Goren, A., \u0026amp; Hall, C. C. (2005). Inferences of competence from faces predict election outcomes. \u003cem\u003eScience, 308\u003c/em\u003e(5728), 1623\u0026ndash;1626. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1110589\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eToseeb, U., Keeble, D. R. T., \u0026amp; Bryant, E. J. (2012). The significance of hair for face recognition. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0034144\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTreisman, A. M., \u0026amp; Gelade, G. (1980). A feature-integration theory of attention. \u003cem\u003eCognitive Psychology, 12\u003c/em\u003e(1), 97\u0026ndash;136. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(80)90005-5\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTreisman, A. M., \u0026amp; Schmidt, H. (1982). Illusory conjunctions in the perception of objects. \u003cem\u003eCognitive Psychology, 14\u003c/em\u003e(1), 107\u0026ndash;141. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(82)90006-8\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWills, J. \u0026amp; Todorov, A. (2006). First impressions: Making up your mind after a 100-ms exposure to a face. \u003cem\u003ePsychological Science. 17\u003c/em\u003e(7). 592-598. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01750.x\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYoung, A. W. (2021). Face perception. \u003cem\u003eOxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology\u003c/em\u003e. Oxford University Press. https://oxfordre.com/psychology\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eZebrowitz, L. A. (2017). First impressions from faces. \u003cem\u003eCurrent Directions in Psychological Science, 26\u003c/em\u003e(3), 237\u0026ndash;242. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721416683996\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eZebrowitz, L. A., Tenenbaum, D. R., \u0026amp; Goldstein, L. H. (1991). The impact of job applicants\u0026apos; facial maturity, gender, and academic achievement on hiring recommendations. \u003cem\u003eJournal of Applied Social Psychology, 21\u003c/em\u003e(7), 525\u0026ndash;548. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1991.tb00535.x\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8840523/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8840523/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Although faces usually include hair of various colors, the effects of colored hair on face perception have received little attention. Because hair is a part of face in actual interpersonal situations, this study examined how colored hair influences the facial attractiveness judgment and identification with the short and long durations (60 and 1,700 ms). In Experiment 1, the facial attractiveness was relatively consistent across stimulus durations regardless of hair color. Moreover, the individual attractiveness was relatively consistent between blond and black hair at the short duration, but diversified in response to hair color at the long duration. In Experiment 2, the identification accuracy was lower for blond than for black hair only at the short duration. These findings suggest that hair color disrupts the identification of briefly presented faces, whereas it does not impair attractiveness judgments. Instead, hair color modulates perceived attractiveness when faces are viewed for a longer time. These results highlight how external facial features shape interpersonal evaluations depending on the time available for face processing. This temporal pattern may help explain how subtle biases related to physical appearance emerge during rapid social encounters.","manuscriptTitle":"Colored hair affects the facial attractiveness judgment and identification at different time courses","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-06 12:03:12","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8840523/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"8330597b-0b78-49b3-b1c6-9319e05993ca","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 6th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-11T12:41:59+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-06 12:03:12","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8840523","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8840523","identity":"rs-8840523","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}