Contrapposto posture captures visual attention: An online gaze tracking experiment

ABSTRACT Goddesses of love and beauty are frequently depicted in artwork in a contrapposto posture with one leg relaxing while the other bears the weight. Previous research has indicated that compared to an upright standing pose, a contrapposto pose is considered more attractive with its curviness capturing greater visual attention. Yet, whether a body posed in contrapposto is generally more visually attention-grabbing than an upright body remains unknown. We sought to address this gap and also examined if individual differences in sociosexuality – individual differences in willingness to engage in uncommitted sexual relations – influence attentional allocation. Online gaze-tracking was employed to monitor subjects (n = 71) during image presentation in a preferential looking design (contrapposto verse standing). Participants had a greater proportion of their gaze directed towards female bodies depicted in contrapposto pose compared to a standing posture over an extended period of time but not in the first gaze shift. Moreover, sociosexuality correlated positively with the proportion of gazes towards contrapposto stimuli but fell short of statistical significance. The results of the current study indicate that top-down factors play a role in how people allocate more attention to contrapposto poses.