Staff profile

I'm a Postdoctoral Research Associate working on the ESRC-funded project 'Putting the individual into face recognition: Bridging theory and application', led by Prof Holger Wiese. In this project, we investigate the neural correlates of familiar face recognition.

I completed a B.Sc. in Psychology at the University of York in 2012 and an M.Sc. in Psychological Research at the University of Edinburgh in 2013. I then spent a few years working as a Research Assistant in Sweden (at Karolinska Institute, Uppsala University, and University of Gothenburg, respectively), before joining the Psychology Department at Durham University in 2017 to pursue a PhD. My PhD investigated whether sexually dimorphic traits (i.e., masculinity in men and femininity in women) are under current sexual selection in humans, and I defended my thesis in 2022. After working as a Teaching Fellow in the department for a few years (partially overlapping with my PhD), I took up my current role in 2023.

• Face recognition
• Face perception
• Attractiveness
• Mate choice and mate preferences
• Sexual dimorphism (masculinity and femininity)
• Romantic and sexual relationships

Chapter in book

• Immunocompetence: Facial Masculinity
  
  Lidborg, L. H. (2024). Immunocompetence: Facial Masculinity. In Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior (pp. 1-6). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_1156-1
• Facial Masculinity
  
  Lidborg, L. H. (2023). Facial Masculinity. In Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior (pp. 1-13). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_1418-1

Journal Article

• Cross-cultural data on romantic love and mate preferences from 117,293 participants across 175 countries
  
  Kowal, M., Sorokowski, P., Gjoneska, B., Pisanski, K., Pfuhl, G., Aguilar, L., Janssen, S. M., Gelbart, B., Arriaga, P., Antfolk, J., Zvončáková, K., Lidborg, L. H., Contreras-Garduño, J., Kozlov, M. V., Milfont, T. L., Varella, M. A., Križanić, V., Boussena, M., Kavčič, T., … Prazeres, F. (2025). Cross-cultural data on romantic love and mate preferences from 117,293 participants across 175 countries. Scientific Data, 12, Article 1103. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05365-2
• A preliminary study on the role of personal history of infectious and parasitic diseases on self-reported health across countries
  
  Pfuhl, G., Prazeres, F., Kowal, M., Aavik, T., Abad-Villaverde, B., Afhami, R., Aguilar, L., Akello, G., Al-Shawaf, L., Antfolk, J., Atama, C. S., Duyar, D. A., Baiocco, R., Balım, S., Batres, C., Belkacem, Y., Besson, T., Bode, A., Boğa, M., … Sorokowski, P. (2025). A preliminary study on the role of personal history of infectious and parasitic diseases on self-reported health across countries. Public Health, 242, 220-227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2025.02.030
• The temporal dynamics of familiar face recognition: Event-related brain potentials reveal the efficient activation of facial identity representations
  
  Wiese, H., Popova, T., Lidborg, L. H., & Burton, A. M. (2024). The temporal dynamics of familiar face recognition: Event-related brain potentials reveal the efficient activation of facial identity representations. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 204, Article 112423. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2024.112423
• A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans
  
  Lidborg, L. H., Cross, C. P., & Boothroyd, L. G. (2022). A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans. ELife, 11, Article e65031. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.65031
• Predictors of enhancing human physical attractiveness: Data from 93 countries
  
  Kowal, M., Sorokowski, P., Pisanski, K., Valentova, J. V., Varella, M. A., Frederick, D. A., Al-Shawaf, L., García, F. E., Giammusso, I., Gjoneska, B., Kozma, L., Otterbring, T., Papadatou-Pastou, M., Pfuhl, G., Stöckli, S., Studzinska, A., Toplu-Demirtaş, E., Touloumakos, A. K., Bakos, B. E., … Zumárraga-Espinosa, M. (2022). Predictors of enhancing human physical attractiveness: Data from 93 countries. Evolution and Human Behavior, 43(6), 455-474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.08.003
• Language as a Tool: Motor Proficiency Using a Tool Predicts Individual Linguistic Abilities
  
  Brozzoli, C., Roy, A. C., Lidborg, L. H., & Lövdén, M. (2019). Language as a Tool: Motor Proficiency Using a Tool Predicts Individual Linguistic Abilities. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article 1639. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01639