A man's ability to throw projectiles overhead leaves telltale traces on his face.
Humans have a remarkable and unique capacity to throw projectile weapons. The ability to throw overhand with power and accuracy, to wound and kill from afar, is a derived adaptation within the genus Homo that undoubtedly had a profound effect on the success of our ancestor, by offering advantages in fighting and hunting. As a result, the capacity to quickly infer this trait in others could have also been adaptive for the purposes of assessing coalitional partners, rivals and potential mates.
The current research investigates whether people can accurately infer the overhand throwing ability of others based on facial appearance.
We demonstrated that face-based inferences of overhand throwing ability are accurate, predicting an analogue of ancestral projectile weaponry, the javelin, among male track and field athletes. Moreover, we found that javelin throwers have distinctive facial shapes, which may be driving these perceptions. Facial morphometric analyses showed that javelin throwers could be distinguished from the other track and field athletes by more prominent brows, a narrower interorbital distance, a broader mid-face and a more elongated chin.
Finally, we replicate these effects and demonstrate that face-based inferences of overhand throwing ability can be decoupled from perceptions of physical strength and formidability. Overall, the ratings from male and female participants were highly similar across all three studies, which is consistent with the view that face-based inferences of overhand throwing could have been adaptive both in terms of assessing potential rivals and coalitional partners (male–male competition) as well as identifying mating partners that can provide, protect and provision (female choice).
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