title: Self-portraits: smartphones reveal a side bias in non-artists.
abstract: 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.
authors: Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy. nicola.bruno@unipr.it
authors: Nicola
authors: N
authors: Bruno
authors: Marco
authors: M
authors: Bertamini
mesh_terms: D001154:Art; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors
references: Vision Res. 2008 Sep;48(20):2143-53
references: 18619482
references: Laterality. 2013;18(3):319-28
references: 22746204
references: Proc Biol Sci. 1999 Aug 7;266(1428):1517-22
references: 10467743
references: Laterality. 2009 Nov;14(6):545-72
references: 19214864
references: Perception. 2010;39(7):970-81
references: 20842973
references: Psychophysiology. 1981 Mar;18(2):101-6
references: 7220762
references: Iperception. 2011;2(6):528-40
references: 23145243