Multimodal signalling of attractiveness

A large literature on human facial attractiveness has adopted an evolutionary approach (Little et al., 2011). Much less research has examined cues in other modalities, such as smell (Groyecka et al., 2017) and audition (Zäske et al., 2020). Although these different modalities may interact significantly in human mate choice (Feinberg, 2008), it is not yet understood how humans integrate cues from different sensory modalities. In the literature on animal communication, the most prominent theories suggest that different modalities either signal different qualities of an individual (multiple messages hypothesis) or communicate the same information (back-up signal hypothesis; Moller & Pomiankowski, 1993). These theories tend to disregard the possible interaction of different sensory modalities, and the role of multisensory integration.