Composition in portraits: Selfies and wefies reveal similar biases in untrained modern youths and ancient masters.

Previous analyses suggest that artists prefer poses showing the left side of the subject's face when composing a portrait, but showing the right side when composing their own self-portrait. There is also some evidence that artists may prefer compositions with key features on the right of the picture. Do these findings generalize to spontaneous, pseudo-artistic productions by individuals with no formal training in painting and art history? To investigate this issue, we tested a sample of 104 British schoolchildren and teenagers (mean age = 13.8 years; 80 females). We analysed posing biases in individual photographic self-portraits ("selfies") as well as of self-portraits including also the portrait of a friend ("wefies"). Our results document a bias for showing the left cheek in selfies, a bias for placing the selfie-taker on the right in wefies, and a bias for showing two left cheeks over two right cheeks, again in wefies. These biases are reminiscent of what has been reported for selfies in adult non-artists and for portraits and self-portraits by artists in the 16th-18th centuries. Thus, these results provide new evidence in support of a biological basis for side biases in portraits and self-portraits independently of training and expertise.

The rubber hand illusion in a mirror.

In the rubber hand illusion (RHI) one's hand is hidden, and a fake hand is visible. We explored the situation in which visual information was available indirectly in a mirror. In the mirror condition, compared to the standard condition (fake hand visible directly), we found no reduction of the RHI following synchronised stimulation, as measured by crossmanual pointing and by a questionnaire. We replicated the finding with a smaller mirror that prevented visibility of the face. The RHI was eliminated when a wooden block replaced the fake hand, or when the hand belonged to another person or mannequin. We conclude that awareness of the reflection is the critical variable, despite the distant visual localisation of the hand in a mirror and the third-person perspective. Stimuli seen in a mirror activate the same response as stimuli seen in peripersonal space, through knowledge that they are near one's body.

The anterior bias in visual art: the case of images of animals.

Composition is an important topic in visual art. The literature suggests a bias for objects on the right side (Levy, 1976) and two additional biases with respect to positioning of objects within a rectangular frame: a Centre bias and an Inward bias (Palmer, Gardner, & Wickens, 2008). We analysed images of animals from three datasets of works of art: two datasets were from artists well known for their portraits of animals (Bewick, Stubbs) and the third was a medieval bestiary. There was no overall displacement of the subject to the right or to the left of the picture. However, we found a bias consisting of more space in front compared to behind the animal, consistent with Palmer at al.'s findings and with their definition of an Inward bias. Because our animals never face towards the centre we use the term Anterior bias. In addition, we found a modulation of this bias on the basis of the facing direction of the animal, consisting of a stronger Anterior bias for left-facing animals. This asymmetry may originate from a combination of an Anterior bias and a Right bias. Finally, with respect to size we found that the size of the animals predicted the proportion of the picture occupied, an effect known as "canonical size".

The effect of left-right reversal on film: Watching Kurosawa reversed.

The mirror reversal of an image is subtly different from the original. Often such change goes unnoticed in pictures, although it can affect preference. For the first time we studied the effect of mirror reversal of feature films. People watched Yojimbo or Sanjuro in a cinema, both classic films by Akira Kurosawa. They knew that this was a study and filled out a questionnaire. On one day Yojimbo was shown in its original orientation, and on another day the film was mirror reversed. Sanjuro was shown reversed on one day and non-reversed on another day. Viewers did not notice the reversal, even when they had seen the film before and considered themselves fans of Kurosawa. We compared this with estimates from a survey. In addition, the question about the use of space (scenography) revealed that although people who had seen the film before gave higher ratings compared with those who had not, this was only true when the film was not reversed.