New insights emerge from a study on how people swipe in dating apps
Several dating platforms prompt users to rate others by swiping left or right to express approval or disapproval. The authors of a recent study found strong links between these gestures and how positively or negatively individuals are perceived in photos. The findings were published in Neuroscience Letters and add to the understanding of how quick judgments relate to facial attractiveness and neural responses.
Researchers at Hebei University conducted a series of experiments in which volunteers assessed the beauty of people in photographs by swiping on a smartphone. In the first setup of the study, participants were instructed to swipe left when a person appeared attractive. In a follow up phase, the task was adjusted so that a left swipe was used when the person did not appear attractive.
As the participants responded to photos of attractive individuals, the leftward swipes came more quickly than when a left swipe was required for an image deemed unattractive. This pattern suggests that the simple act of swiping can reflect underlying evaluations of beauty. The team confirmed this link by recording brain activity with EEG measurements, underscoring a connection between rapid gestures and facial evaluation at the neural level.
However, the researchers acknowledge a key question remains. It is not yet clear whether this association is a natural tendency or a behavioral adaptation built through the experience of using dating apps. Additional studies will be needed to determine the origin of the observed relationship and how it might vary across contexts and populations.
Earlier work in social psychology has explored how perceptions of wealth and poverty can shape judgments of others. That line of inquiry resonates with the present study, which focuses on how quick visual assessments translate into immediate gestures on mobile devices. Together, these findings invite deeper examination of the cognitive shortcuts people use when evaluating faces and how these shortcuts manifest in everyday digital interactions. The implications reach into user experience design as well as theories of social perception and neural processing, offering a richer picture of the rapid judgments that accompany online dating behaviors.