Study Recommends Putting Your Left Face
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04/27/12
FRIDAY, April 27 (HealthDay News) -- People show more emotion on
the left side of their face, and that may help explain why that
side typically appears more pleasant to others, researchers
say.
Scientists from Wake Forest University said the findings may
also help explain why portraits painted by Western artists often
feature left-side profiles. The report is scheduled for online
publication in the journal
Experimental Brain Research.
"Our results suggest that posers' left cheeks tend to exhibit a greater intensity of emotion, which observers find more aesthetically pleasing," study authors Kelsey Blackburn and James Schirillo, of Wake Forest University, wrote in a journal news release. The new findings support "the notions of lateralized emotion and right hemispheric dominance with the right side of the brain controlling the left side of the face during emotional expression," they added.
For the study, the researchers showed study participants
black-and-white profile photos. Some of the profiles were original
photos, while others were mirror-reversed images. Participants
rated the pleasantness of both sides of people's faces.
The results showed that the left side of both men's and women's
faces were more aesthetically pleasing. This was true for the
original photos as well as the mirror-reversed images.
Because people's pupils enlarge or dilate in response to
interesting stimuli, the researchers confirmed their findings by
measuring participants' pupil sizes. They found pupil size
increased along with pleasantness ratings.
More information
The American Psychological Association has more about
facial expressions.
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