Do women's preferences for masculine voices shift across the ovulatory cycle?

Are estrous mate preference shifts robust? This question is the subject of controversy within human evolutionary sciences. For nearly two decades, mate preference shifts across the ovulatory cycle were considered an important feature of human sexual selection, directing women's attention toward mates with indicators of "good genes" in their fertile phase, when conception is possible. However, several recent studies on masculine faces, bodies and behaviors did not find evidence supporting this account, known as the good genes ovulatory shift hypothesis. Furthermore, evidence that preferences for masculine characteristics in men's voices are related to women's cycle phase and hormonal status is still equivocal. Here, we report two independent within-subject studies from different labs with large sample sizes (N = 202 tested twice in Study 1; N = 157 tested four times in Study 2) investigating cycle shifts in women's preferences for masculine voices. In both studies, hormonal status was assessed directly using salivary assays of steroid hormones. We did not find evidence for effects of cycle phase, conception risk, or steroid hormone levels on women's preferences for masculine voices. Rather, our studies partially provide evidence for cycle shifts in women's general attraction to men's voices regardless of masculine characteristics. Women's relationship status and self-reported stress did not moderate these findings, and the hormonal pattern that influences these shifts remains somewhat unclear. We consider how future work can clarify the mechanisms underlying psychological changes across the ovulatory cycle.

Is human brain masculinization estrogen receptor-mediated? Reply to Luoto and Rantala.

Human genetic males are unlike rodent males in that neither the ability to convert testosterone to estrogen nor a functional estrogen receptor (ER) appears necessary for male-typical behavior, but a functional androgen receptor (AR) is required. Brain masculinization is probably mainly AR-mediated in human genetic males. ER binding may nevertheless have important masculinizing or defeminizing effects in human genetic females. Probably the strongest available evidence on this issue is derived from females exposed to synthetic estrogens in utero due to their mother's treatment with DES. As we review, the totality of evidence from this population indicates little or no effect of estrogens on sexuality in genetic females. In addition, if brain masculinization were ER-mediated in humans, it seems unlikely that sex hormone-binding globulin would bind estrogens so effectively as to prevent them from masculinizing the brain. In sum, current evidence suggests that estrogen plays a limited role in masculinizing the human brain and behavior.

Investigating the Influence of Biological Sex on the Behavioral and Neural Basis of Face Recognition.

There is interest in understanding the influence of biological factors, like sex, on the organization of brain function. We investigated the influence of biological sex on the behavioral and neural basis of face recognition in healthy, young adults. In behavior, there were no sex differences on the male Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT)+ or the female CFMT+ (that we created) and no own-gender bias (OGB) in either group. We evaluated the functional topography of ventral stream organization by measuring the magnitude and functional neural size of 16 individually defined face-, two object-, and two place-related regions bilaterally. There were no sex differences in any of these measures of neural function in any of the regions of interest (ROIs) or in group level comparisons. These findings reveal that men and women have similar category-selective topographic organization in the ventral visual pathway. Next, in a separate task, we measured activation within the 16 face-processing ROIs specifically during recognition of target male and female faces. There were no sex differences in the magnitude of the neural responses in any face-processing region. Furthermore, there was no OGB in the neural responses of either the male or female participants. Our findings suggest that face recognition behavior, including the OGB, is not inherently sexually dimorphic. Face recognition is an essential skill for navigating human social interactions, which is reflected equally in the behavior and neural architecture of men and women.

Pubertal development shapes perception of complex facial expressions.

We previously hypothesized that pubertal development shapes the emergence of new components of face processing (Scherf et al., 2012; Garcia & Scherf, 2015). Here, we evaluate this hypothesis by investigating emerging perceptual sensitivity to complex versus basic facial expressions across pubertal development. We tested pre-pubescent children (6-8 years), age- and sex-matched adolescents in early and later stages of pubertal development (11-14 years), and sexually mature adults (18-24 years). Using a perceptual staircase procedure, participants made visual discriminations of both socially complex expressions (sexual interest, contempt) that are arguably relevant to emerging peer-oriented relationships of adolescence, and basic (happy, anger) expressions that are important even in early infancy. Only sensitivity to detect complex expressions improved as a function of pubertal development. The ability to perceive these expressions is adult-like by late puberty when adolescents become sexually mature. This pattern of results provides the first evidence that pubertal development specifically influences emerging affective components of face perception in adolescence.

Endocrinology of human female sexuality, mating, and reproductive behavior.

Hormones orchestrate and coordinate human female sexual development, sexuality, and reproduction in relation to three types of phenotypic changes: life history transitions such as puberty and childbirth, responses to contextual factors such as caloric intake and stress, and cyclical patterns such as the ovulatory cycle. Here, we review the endocrinology underlying women's reproductive phenotypes, including sexual orientation and gender identity, mate preferences, competition for mates, sex drive, and maternal behavior. We highlight distinctive aspects of women's sexuality such as the possession of sexual ornaments, relatively cryptic fertile windows, extended sexual behavior across the ovulatory cycle, and a period of midlife reproductive senescence-and we focus on how hormonal mechanisms were shaped by selection to produce adaptive outcomes. We conclude with suggestions for future research to elucidate how hormonal mechanisms subserve women's reproductive phenotypes.