| Project/Area Number |
19K21002
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| Project/Area Number (Other) |
18H05810 (2018)
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund (2019)
Single-year Grants (2018) |
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| Review Section |
0110:Psychology and related fields
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
RIGAILL LUCIE 京都大学, 霊長類研究所, 特定助教 (40828894)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-08-24 – 2020-03-31
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 2019)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,470,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥570,000)
Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Fiscal Year 2018: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
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| Keywords | sexual communication / fertility / ovulation / skin coloration / lips / primates / humans / human / visual signal |
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| Outline of Research at the Start |
Last year I have collected all my data was very successful. I presented my work in 2 national congresses (Primate Society of Japan-Tokyo and French-speaking Society of Primatology-Paris). My study elicited a lot of positive comments. I also gave 2 seminars about my research theme ("Forms, Functions, and Evolution of female red skin color in primates" in Kyoto-Japan and Paris-France). I have been working on a closely related paper about the role of female skin color in Japanese macaques. The paper is under final revision for the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
I found that there is more difference between than within women in cheek and lip coloration. However, lip luminance (how dark or light the skin appears), is a bit more susceptible to intra-cycle variation in the probability of ovulation: around ovulation lips became darker, as seen in other non-human primate species. But the effect is quite small and likely imperceptible -which is not surprising since we may have noticed that about our own species before.Thus, humans could have inherited the biological bases and mechanisms of expression for female red skin colour from a primate ancestor. This doesn’t necessarily imply that lip luminance plays or does not play an active role in concealing ovulation or in mate choice. Investigating the different forms and functions of female red skin colour in human and non-human primates is necessary to better understand their evolution, i.e., to unveil the different socio-ecological constraints on sexual communication and mate choice.
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
Psychologists have long studied the "red effect": red color enhances a woman attractivity as it suggests fertility. Along with other studies, my results provide empirical support against this hypothesis: red color is unlikely to play a role into mate choice -at least in modern humans.
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