Composition in portraits: Selfies and wefies reveal similar biases in untrained modern youths and ancient masters*. Issue 3 (4th May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bruno, Nicola; Bode, Carole; Bertamini, Marco
• Is Part Of: Laterality. Volume 22:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 279
• Page End: 293
• Publication Date: 2017-05-04
• Subjects: Self-portraits -- portraits -- selfies -- wefies -- side bias; Laterality -- Periodicals; Cerebral dominance -- Periodicals; 616.8
• DOI: 10.1080/1357650X.2016.1185108
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1357-650X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: 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.