LONG LASHES, GENTLE LOOK MELT A WOMAN'S HEART.

Byline: William McCall Associated Press

Given a choice between a dewy-looking Leonardo DiCaprio type and a rugged Sean Connery sort of guy, women may naturally be attracted to the one with the more feminine face, even if both men are the same age, researchers say.

A group of Scottish psychologists studying sexual behavior reports that women prefer the faces of men with more feminine features because they are perceived as gentler and more trustworthy.

The researchers theorize that this preference is not just a 1990s concept of beauty but something that is hard-wired into us by evolution: Evolution has seen to it that women choose men who are likely to be more loyal mates and better fathers to their children.

``We speculate that the preference has been around for a long time,'' said Ian Penton-Voak of the University of St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland. ``If you look at the evolutionary record, we've moved from a more robust form to a more gracile form as a species.''

In separate experiments in Scotland and Japan, researchers created a composite average face for a man and a woman from about 30 digital photos. The faces then were altered at key points, including the eyes, lips, noses and eyebrows, to make them more feminine or more masculine.

Ninety-two volunteers - college students and staff 18 to 44 years old - were

asked to rate the faces according to such factors as warmth, emotionality, honesty, intelligence and dominance.

The 44 women, as well as the 48 men, preferred more feminine faces.

The researchers said the results also reflect the tendency to favor youth when seeking a mate. The masculine faces tended to look older to the volunteers, even though the composites were made from photos of subjects the same age.

The study was published in today's issue of the journal Nature.

``In the real world, people would find both Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Connery attractive. You have to use some common sense about this,'' Langlois said.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--Color) Connery

(2--Color) DiCaprio

Box: A pretty face? Who would you vote for...the man with the rugged or feminine face? See Daily News Line, this page.