Looking forward to Valentine's Day? Research shows that there’s more than one reason to celebrate the holiday enthusiastically this year. Those V-day themed clothes may spice up your love life all by themselves.

Red has historically been a powerful symbolic color. It’s the color of blood, violence, power, love, and the lights that demarcate prostitution districts. Whatever the factors in our ancestor’s distant past, it appears that we have evolved strong feelings for the color. Besides its symbolic power, however, it seems to affect low-level perception in a measureable way. In its most important application in light of the approaching holiday, there is evidence to believe that red makes the wearer appear more attractive. As long as the wearer is female, that is.

In research published last year, perhaps to little surprise, researchers at the University of Rochester have tested men’s perceptions of female’s photographs. The study manipulated the color of the picture frame or the color of the female’s sweater and then asked for reports from the men on their impression of the women in the picture along a variety of dimensions, attractiveness and intelligence among them.

“Under all of the conditions, the women shown framed by or wearing red were rated significantly more attractive and sexually desirable by men than the exact same women shown with other colors.” Men’s ratings on likeability or intelligence did not change as a function of the color worn in the photographs.

This research has generated questions as to whether red’s particular cognitive potency is due to cultural conditioning or innate biological roots. In terms of the latter hypothesis, for instance, is red just more likely to be associated with fertile females? Monkeys, I should mention, similarly find red to be an attractive color. Regardless of the mechanism behind the phenomenon, it won't do bad things for you to deck out in rosy hues on Sunday. Or on any other day…