Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 11, 2026

Ex Vivo OCT-Based Multimodal Imaging of Human Donor Eyes for Research into Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Published on: May 26, 2023
Red, yellow, and super-white sclera : uniquely human cues for healthiness, attractiveness, and age
Robert R Provine1, Marcello O Cabrera, Jessica Nave-Blodgett
1Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA. provine@umbc.edu
Abstract:
The sclera, the eye's tough outer layer, is, among primates, white only in humans, providing the ground necessary for the display of colors that vary in health and disease. The current study evaluates scleral color as a cue of socially significant information about health, attractiveness, and age by contrasting the perception of eyes with normal whites with copies of those eyes whose whites were reddened, yellowed, or further whitened by digital editing. Individuals with red and yellow sclera were rated to be less healthy, less attractive, and older than individuals with untinted control sclera. Individuals with whitened, "super-white" sclera were rated as younger, although not more healthy or attractive, than controls. In humans, clear, white sclera may join such traits as smooth skin and long, lustrous hair as signs of health, beauty, and reproductive fitness. The evolution of a white sclera may have contributed to the emergence of humans as a social species.
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