Could it be that the brain arrives at its ideal of facial beauty by averaging?

I was sent this collection of composite female faces created by averaging multiple photos of women from specific regions. All of these averages are gorgeous

I don’t have any information on how the original photo subjects were chosen, but I recall seeing a composite decades ago that appeared in National Geographic synthesized from random women across many cultures; it was equally stunning. Even though these are averages, one rarely sees an individual quite as beautiful as this.

It started me wondering whether the brain might keep a subconscious running average of faces, and use this as its benchmark for judging facial beauty. Are we wired to swoon at faces that resemble the average of all the faces we’ve encountered? That could allow for the way ideals of beauty shift over time, as well as the influence of media in swaying that average.

Would there be a compelling evolutionary reason for this?

Just musing.