The results showed that women rated men as more attractive when they had first been exposed to music – notably, “highly stimulating and complex music”.

Men’s opinion of women’s attractiveness, in contrast, was not found to be significantly affected by whether they listened to music or not.

The psychologists say that their findings lay the groundwork for more research into the relationship between music and physical attraction, ideally using larger sample sizes.

“We would like to clarify whether musical abilities and creativity can compensate partially for deficiencies in terms of physical appearance and fitness,” says Bruno Gingras from the Institute of Psychology at the University of Innsbruck.

In the meantime, if you want to feel more attracted to someone, try putting on some instrumental piano music. Anyone for some Chopin?

Images: DC Lovensky / Rex Features

This is how music influences our sex lives, according to science