Composition in portraits: <i>Selfies</i> and <i>wefies</i> reveal similar biases in untrained modern youths and ancient masters


Bruno, Nicola, Bode, Carole ORCID: 0000-0003-1804-8910 and Bertamini, Marco ORCID: 0000-0001-8617-6864 (2017) Composition in portraits: <i>Selfies</i> and <i>wefies</i> reveal similar biases in untrained modern youths and ancient masters. LATERALITY, 22 (3). pp. 279-293.

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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.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Self-portraits, portraits, selfies, wefies, side bias
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 11 Jul 2016 08:15
Last Modified: 12 Oct 2023 09:03
DOI: 10.1080/1357650X.2016.1185108
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URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3002228
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