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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Bibliographic Details
Published inPloS one Vol. 8; no. 2; p. e55141
Main Authors Bruno, Nicola, Bertamini, Marco
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Public Library of Science 06.02.2013
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects
Art exhibitions
Artists
Bias
Biology
Biomechanics
Exhibitions
Face
Female
Functional Laterality
Humans
Male
Medicine
Portraits
Sex Factors
Smart phones
Smartphones
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Studies
Surveys
Training
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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.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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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