title: Natural preference in luminosity for frame composition.
abstract: We investigated whether or not frame composition spontaneously selected by individuals exhibit a natural left shift in preference of luminosity, as previously suggested, by examining biases in luminosity imprinted in photographs taken under three different conditions: (i) daytime pictures taken outside without determination of frame composition (N=4153); (ii) daytime pictures taken outside with determination of frame composition (N=4035); and (iii) pictures taken inside with determination of frame composition (N=4045). As anticipated, there was a strong vertical gradient of luminance grayscale intensity, reflecting natural day light distribution, for pictures of categories (i) and (ii). Similarly, a minor vertical gradient was detected for pictures of category (iii), indicating common room lighting conditions. To our great interest, there was a consistent leftward tilt of ca. 2 and 9 degrees found in the vertical gradients for pictures of categories (ii) and (iii), respectively, but not for pictures of category (i). The result provides clear-cut evidence that there is indeed a natural preference for a leftward bias in luminosity for frame composition.
authors.affiliation: Center for Integrated Human Brain Science, Brain Research Institute, University of Niigata, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoharu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Kosuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.forename: Kiyotaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Ingrid L
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Kwee
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakada
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D008029:Lighting; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011601:Psychophysics; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*