一项新的研究发现，女性的“经期脸”并不存在

一项新的研究发现，女性的“经期脸”并不存在

Can you tell just by looking where a woman's at in her reproductive cycle? For other primate species, such as the red-bottomed baboon, it's pretty easy to see. For humans, the changes are more subtle.

你能仅仅通过观察一个女人的生殖周期就知道她在哪里吗?对于其他灵长类物种，如红底狒狒，这是很容易看到的。对人类来说，变化更加微妙。

But there are some scientists out there who claim it's possible to tell the stage of a woman's cycle simply by measuring the shape of her face - leading to the idea of a distinctive 'ovulation face' or even a 'period face'. Now, a new study has contradicted this idea.

但也有一些科学家声称，通过简单地测量女性的脸型就可以判断出她们的生理周期，这就产生了独特的“排卵期脸”甚至是“经期脸”的想法。现在，一项新的研究反驳了这一观点。

Back in the 1990s, several small studies showed that on the day of ovulation, the symmetry of a woman's soft tissue, such as her breast size, ear size and digit length were subtly shifted by hormones to make them more attractive to men.

早在20世纪90年代，几项小型研究表明，在排卵当天，女性软组织的对称性，如胸部大小、耳朵大小和手指长度，会被荷尔蒙微妙地改变，从而对男性更具吸引力。

Now, however, a more thorough replication of this research has found no such fluctuations in facial shape during a woman's menstrual cycle.

然而，现在，这项研究的一个更彻底的复制发现，在女性的月经周期中，没有这种面部形状的波动。

Our results suggest that the previously found increased facial attractiveness of women in the most fertile phase of the menstrual cycle is not driven by changes in facial shape, the authors write, "but might instead stem from other changes in facial appearance, such as a more attractive skin tone; and underline the importance of replication of studies with new methods."

作者写道:“我们的研究结果表明，先前发现的女性在月经周期最易生育的阶段面部吸引力的增加并不是由面部形状的变化引起的，而是由其他面部外观的变化引起的，比如更有吸引力的肤色;并强调用新方法重复研究的重要性。”

Using a larger sample size and more detailed hormonal tests than previous studies, the new research set out to test whether reported changes in a woman's attractiveness at different points in their menstrual cycle might be linked to the shape of their face.

与之前的研究相比，这项新研究的样本量更大，激素测试也更详细。研究的目的是测试女性在月经周期不同阶段的吸引力变化是否与她们的脸型有关。

As ovulation approaches, studies have shown the female body goes through a bunch of changes. Voices, for instance, can rise and body odour can become more attractive.

随着排卵的临近，研究表明女性的身体经历了一系列的变化。例如，声音可以提高，体味可以变得更有吸引力。

But while there is some evidence that women's faces are more attractive to both men and women near ovulation, these results are flimsier and their conclusions have recently come under contention.

然而，尽管有证据表明，在排卵期前后，女性的面容对男性和女性都更有吸引力，但这些结果并不可靠，而且他们的结论最近受到了争议。

In 2019, for instance, researchers improved upon older methods and found no effects of symmetry and femininity on attractiveness.

例如，在2019年，研究人员改进了以前的方法，发现对称性和女性气质对吸引力没有影响。

This year's research is yet another follow-up with an equally skeptical take.

今年的研究是另一个同样持怀疑态度的后续研究。

Testing 75 healthy women with regular cycles, the authors measured various components of facial appearance - symmetry, sex-typical features and attractiveness - at three different stages in the menstrual cycle.

研究人员对75名正常月经周期的健康女性进行了测试，测量了她们在月经周期的三个不同阶段的面部特征——对称性、性别特征和吸引力。

Unlike previous research, ovulation was determined not by an arbitrary length of time after menstruation, but from peaks in crucial hormones such as oestradiol and luteinising hormone. This direct measurement along with the much larger sample size sets the study apart from many previous methods.

与之前的研究不同的是，排卵不是由月经后的任意时间长短决定的，而是由关键激素(如雌二醇和黄体生成素)的峰值决定的。这种直接测量和更大的样本量使研究有别于许多以前的方法。

[T]hese results do not support reports of symmetry fluctuations in facial images and other body measurements across the menstrual cycle, the authors conclude.

“这些结果并不支持在月经周期中面部图像和其他身体测量的对称性波动的报告。”作者总结道。

In the new paper, the researchers admit they do not know why previous studies turned up such different results, only that we may have landed on the wrong explanation.

在这篇新论文中，研究人员承认，他们不知道为什么之前的研究得出了如此不同的结果，只知道我们可能得出了错误的解释。

Rather than facial symmetry changing, they suggest, women could appear more attractive at certain times of their cycle because of changes in their skin tone.

他们认为，女性在生理周期的某些时候可能因为肤色的变化而显得更有吸引力，而不是面部对称性的变化。

The changes in attractiveness judgements found in some of the previous studies might also be a by-product of changes in hormonal levels, the authors suggest.

“以前的一些研究发现，人们对外表吸引力的判断发生了变化，这可能也是荷尔蒙水平变化的副作用。”作者说。

And that, they say, is exactly why we need to replicate studies like this with novel methods and novel samples - so we don't go assuming something's true when it very well might be false.

他们说，这正是为什么我们需要用新的方法和新的样本来重复这样的研究——所以我们不会在很可能是错误的情况下假设某件事是正确的。

The study was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

这项研究发表在《英国皇家学会学报B》上。