Gentlemen, if you want to get a second date, you may want to put some Drake on.
A new study has found that women find men more sexually attractive after listening to ‘highly arousing’ music.
The findings suggest that music has the power to influence human behaviour with regard to partner selection.
If you aren’t sure whether or not you fancy your date, you may want to put some sexy music like Drake on while you get ready. A new study has found that women find men more sexually attractive after listening to ‘highly arousing’ music (stock image right)
Researchers from the University of Vienna looked at the effect of music on sexual attraction.
Helmut Leder, one of the authors of the study, said: ‘Facial attractiveness is one of the most important physical characteristics that can influence the choice of a partner.
‘We wanted to find out how music can alter the perception of this feature.’
Since music is usually experienced in a social context, the researchers were interested to see if it influenced the visual perception of faces.
Manuela Marin, lead author of the study, said: ‘There is some evidence in the psychological literature that so-called arousal transfer effects can occur if two stimuli are processed consecutively.
‘The processing of the first stimulus produces internal arousal, i.e. increased physiological activity, which is then attributed to the second stimulus.
‘This mostly unconscious mechanism can then influence our actions, in this case, the choice of a partner.’
In their study, the researchers presented 96 heterosexual participants with musical excerpts, followed by a photograph of a face from the opposite sex with a neutral facial expression.
Participants were asked to assess the face in terms of its attractiveness on a scale, and say whether they would date the person pictured.
To test the effect of the music, in another study, participants were shown faces without the music.
The results showed that female participants rated the male faces as more attractive and were more willing to date the men pictured when previously exposed to music (stock image)
The results showed that female participants rated the male faces as more attractive and were more willing to date the men pictured when previously exposed to music.
In particular, highly stimulating and complex music led to the greatest effect.
Surprisingly, this effect was not seen among male participants.
The researchers now hope to recreate the study on a larger scale.
Bruno Gingras, another author of the study, said: ‘Our goal is to replicate these results in a larger sample and to modify some aspects of the experiment.
‘For example, we would like to clarify whether musical abilities and creativity can compensate partially for deficiencies in terms of physical appearance and fitness.’
MUSIC CAN CHANGE THE TASTE OF FOOD
Scientists have found that listening to fast-paced, energetic music, like the Spice Girls, can increase the perceived spiciness of food by up to ten per cent
Fancy a little more heat in your curry? Then reach for the Red Hot Chili Peppers – or even the Spice Girls.
Scientists have found that listening to fast-paced, energetic music can increase the perceived spiciness of food by up to ten per cent.
And the experts, based at the University of Oxford, have even christened the bizarre phenomenon ‘sonic seasoning’.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, traditional Indian music – featuring shrill sitar notes, a fast drum beat and high pitched singing – has one of the strongest sonic seasoning effects.
But uptempo songs from bands such as the Spice Girls and Chili Peppers can also affected the taste buds.
The researchers asked volunteers to pick music that they thought would be associated with spicy food.
They then asked 180 volunteers to eat spicy food while listening to short clips of the music, white noise or silence.
They found those listening to music with a faster tempo, higher pitch and distorted sounds said the food was spicier and had more intense flavours.