...easy to discern if you know what to look for. The answer is in her face.

Men and women are able to tell if the other is interested in a sexual fling or prefers a long-term commitment by carefully studying facial cues. That's the word from researchers at the United Kingdom's Durham University, St. Andrews University and Aberdeen University, who found that a man generally prefers a woman whom he believes is open to a short-term sexual relationship, while a woman generally prefers a man whom she perceives to be potentially suitable for a long-term relationship, reports HealthDay News.

The study: Seven hundred volunteers examined photographs of faces of the opposite sex, all of whom were in their early 20s. Each participant was asked to judge the photos for attractiveness and sexual attitudes. These judgments were then compared with the actual attitudes and behaviors of the people in the photos.

The results: Fully 72 percent of the 153 volunteers in the first study sample correctly identified sexual attitudes from photos more than half the time, reports HealthDay News. Women who seemed to be open to a short-term fling were typically rated by the men as being more attractive, while men who appeared to be open to casual sex were seen as being more masculine-looking with a squarer jaw, larger nose and smaller eyes. Men who had softer features were judged as better long-term partners. And while men were easily able to identify women who would be open to a quickie sexual liaison, there were no common facial details to explain it, although these women did tend to have wide eyes and large lips. (Think Angelina Jolie.)

"Our results suggest that although some people can judge the sexual strategy of others simply by looking at their face, people are not always sure about their judgments, possibly because the cues are very subtle. Yet preferences for different types of faces were actually quite strong," study author Dr. Lynda Boothroyd said in a prepared statement. "This shows that these initial impressions may be part of how we assess potential mates--or potential rivals--when we first meet them. These will then give way over time to more in-depth knowledge of that person as you get to know them better and may change with age."

This is the first study to show that people are sensitive to subtle facial signals about the type of romantic relationships that others might enjoy.

Warning: Men, don't presume a woman wants to have sex with you based only on her appearance.

The study was published in current issue of Evolution in Human Behavior.

--From the Editors at Netscape