Self-portraits: smartphones reveal a side bias in non-artists
According to surveys of art books and exhibitions, artists prefer poses showing the left side of the face when composing a portrait and the right side when composing a self-portrait. However, it is presently not known whether similar biases can be observed in individuals that lack formal artistic tr...
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Published in | PloS one Vol. 8; no. 2; p. e55141 |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
Public Library of Science
06.02.2013
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | According to surveys of art books and exhibitions, artists prefer poses showing the left side of the face when composing a portrait and the right side when composing a self-portrait. However, it is presently not known whether similar biases can be observed in individuals that lack formal artistic training. We collected self-portraits by naïve photographers who used the iPhone™ front camera, and confirmed a right side bias in this non-artist sample and even when biomechanical constraints would have favored the opposite. This result undermines explanations based on posing conventions due to artistic training or biomechanical factors, and is consistent with the hypothesis that side biases in portraiture and self-portraiture are caused by biologically- determined asymmetries in facial expressiveness. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-News-1 ObjectType-Feature-3 content type line 23 Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Conceived and designed the experiments: NB MB. Performed the experiments: NB MB. Analyzed the data: NB MB. Wrote the paper: NB MB. |
ISSN: | 1932-6203 1932-6203 |
DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0055141 |