Voice perception, attractiveness, and averageness

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Like the alphabet, or DNA, the limited vocal feature base creates an infinite number of unique sounding voices. I have developed a program of research that studies how we translate the configurations of these acoustic features into representations of individuals: what they look like, how old they are, how tall or strong they are, their emotional state, and even their personalities. Many of these perceptions are accurate, but many are not. My research program investigates the seemingly daunting task of determining how we represent voices, whether these perceptions are accurate, and if they are based on learning through experience or general heuristics.******Studies have also shown that both face and voice attractiveness increases with averageness. Explanations of why averaged faces and voices are more attractive centre around universal, biologically-based adaptive preferences or universally possessed cognitive machinery. For example, average faces may be attractive because they may be linked to increased genetic diversity. Because the attractiveness of non-face stimuli is also influenced by averageness, other authors have suggested that increased preferences for averaged faces reflect a byproduct of perceptual or cognitive information-processing mechanisms, or that this byproduct was later exapted for the purpose of mate-choice decisions.******In this grant I will propose to answer questions such as: how many voices are needed to represent a prototype? Do voice prototypes transcend what is spoken? Are attractive voices represented more in prototypes than unattractive voices? What role do facial and physical attractiveness, and biographical information about vocalizers have on prototype formation? What role does experience and valence play on perception of averageness? Is averageness a quality of the sender, perceiver, or both? Are voice preferences learned by conditioning? How are voices represented as they diverge from average?**