Featural information is sufficient to produce a left cheek bias for happiness perception

Taking the Perfect Selfie: Investigating the Impact of Perspective on the Perception of Higher Cognitive Variables

“…However, direct comparison of left vs. right hemifaces revealed no significant difference. Accordingly, our results might contrast past findings according to which the left hemiface is perceived as more emotional (see e.g., Sackeim et al, 1978; Zaidel et al, 1995; Nicholls et al, 2002; Jones et al, 2012; Lindell, 2013a,b; Low and Lindell, 2016). However, to the author's knowledge, there is no investigation on the perception of sympathy with respect to viewing perspective.…”

“…This finding is in accordance with the finding that the right side of the owner's face ( right hemiface ) affects the perception of attractiveness, age and gender (Zaidel et al, 1995; Burt and Perrett, 1997; Dunstan and Lindell, 2012) more than the left side ( left hemiface ) but is in some contrast to findings that emotional aspects can be derived better and more accurately from the left side of the owner's face (e.g., Zaidel et al, 1995; Kramer and Ward, 2011; Lindell, 2013a,b; Low and Lindell, 2016). However, with respect to the perceived attractiveness , we found comparative lager effects for the left hemiface , contrasting past research by others (for instance, Zaidel et al, 1995; Burt and Perrett, 1997; Dunstan and Lindell, 2012; but also see Sitton et al, 2006).…”

“…This effect was especially positive for presentations of the left hemiface and more distinct for female faces (in contrast to male faces) what is in line with findings by Sitton et al (2006), although others, e.g., Dunstan and Lindell (2012) did only found this effect for male faces. This optimization possibility is seemingly often used in the field when people take a selfie: Here, people tend to show a side bias (mostly showing the left cheek)—interestingly, the left hemiface has a significant effect on the perception of (positive) emotion (see McManus and Humphrey, 1973; Bruno and Bertamini, 2013; Lindell, 2013a,b; Low and Lindell, 2016). However, our results are also in some contrast to our initial hypothesis and also to other research: e.g., Burt and Perrett (1997) used chimeric faces and revealed that the right hemiface impacts attractiveness more than the left side.…”

“…It is assumed that turning the face to the right (showing the left cheek: left hemiface ) affects the perception of some emotions. More precisely, the left side of the face was rated as more emotionally expressive and emotions were perceived more intense (see e.g., Sackeim et al, 1978; Zaidel et al, 1995; Nicholls et al, 2002; Jones et al, 2012; Lindell, 2013a,b; Low and Lindell, 2016). This is widely in accordance with findings that the left cheek is overrepresented in classical portraits, see e.g., Bruno and Bertamini (2013) and McManus and Humphrey (1973); but also see contrasting research by Lindell (2016) who worked on specific cases of art history (i.e., Vincent Van Gogh's work).…”

Embodying the Face: The Intersubjectivity of Portraits and Self-portraits

“…Studies with composite faces presenting the same anatomical hemi-faces (i.e., left-left; right-right) have shown that anatomical left-left composites of faces are rated by beholders as more emotionally expressive (Indersmitten and Gur 2003;Nagy 2012). More recently, studies of portraits, photos and selfies demonstrate that the subjects represented in the images tend to display the more expressive left hemi-face (for portraits, see Humphrey and McManus 1973;McManus and Humphrey 1973;Grusser et al 1988;Lindell 2013a,b;Powell and Schirillo 2011;White 2019; for photos, see Nicholls et al 1999Nicholls and Roberts 2002; for selfies, see Bruno and Bertamini 2013;Bruno et al 2015Bruno et al , 2016Lindell 2015Lindell , 2017Manovich et al 2017) and that beholders tend to rate the left cheek biased faces as more emotionally expressive (Low and Lindell 2016;Galea and Lindell 2016;Nicholls et al 2004).…”