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Chapter 9204Theoretical implicationsThe multimodality of attractionHuman mate choice can be considered a two-stage process, consisting of two main filters (Dixson, 2012). While the first filter is thought to mainly focus on physical traits and attractiveness (attraction: Fisher, 1998), the second filter is more closely associated with personality traits and behavioural coordination (attachment: Fisher, 1998). In this thesis, I have specifically focused on the first filter, because sexually selective cognition is especially relevant at this point in time. Dixson (2012) postulates that the first filter consists of multimodal perception of attractiveness, encompassing olfactory, auditory and visual information. This is also in line with a recent paper that argued for a stronger integration of olfactory and auditory attractiveness in the study of human mate choice (Groyecka et al., 2017). However, the results of Chapter 3 strongly suggest that such a shift of focus is premature, at least in the context of initial mate choice. In contrast with the notion that multimodal attractiveness is important in human mate choice, I found strong evidence only for the role of visual attractiveness in initial mate choice, whereas attractiveness of smell and voice seemed to have little to no bearing on speed-date outcome. This is not to say that olfactory and auditory information do not play a role in human mate choice at all. More specifically, these modalities could be especially relevant in early stages of inter-personal contact where auditory and olfactory information can be reliably perceived and evaluated, such as contexts in which no other people are present. However, during initial interactions this will often not be the case, and visual information may be the most reliable source of information in such a context. Therefore, I suggest splitting Dixson’s (2012) attraction filter into two parts (Figure 1): potential mates are first discriminated based on visual attractiveness, because this is often the most conspicuous and reliable source of information. In the second attraction filter, auditory and olfactory information would play a larger role. Importantly, this filter could be applied simultaneously with the attachment filter. Furthermore, there might be trade-offs between the different filters, to the extent that ‘scoring high’ on one filter may to some extent compensate for ‘lower scores’ on another filter (Figure 1). However, these trade-offs require further investigation. A further point that requires attention is the link between culture and mate choice for odour. The effect of olfaction on mate choice could very well vary between cultures due to cultural variation in Tom Roth.indd 204 08-01-2024 10:42