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Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior
09:49

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Published on: April 16, 2014

Why do most faces look thinner upside down?

Peter Thompson1, Jennie Wilson

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK;

I-Perception
|March 14, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

When faces are viewed upside down, they appear thinner, regardless of their actual shape. This perception illusion challenges the idea that inverted faces lose their distinctive features, suggesting a broader visual phenomenon at play.

Keywords:
face perceptioninversionshapesize

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Area of Science:

  • Visual perception
  • Cognitive psychology
  • Face recognition

Background:

  • Upright faces are perceived based on internal features influencing perceived shape.
  • Inverted faces are hypothesized to disrupt holistic processing, impairing shape judgment.
  • Previous assumptions suggested inverted faces revert to an average shape, altering perceived thinness.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the perception of face shape when viewed upside down.
  • To determine if inverted faces appear thinner irrespective of their actual shape.
  • To explore the underlying mechanisms of the face inversion illusion.

Main Methods:

  • Presentation of faces in upright and inverted orientations.
  • Subjective reports on perceived face shape and thinness.
  • Analysis of the influence of face shape on inversion effects.

Main Results:

  • Faces are generally perceived as thinner when viewed upside down.
  • This effect occurs across various face shapes, not just reverting to an average.
  • The illusion's prevalence suggests a link to broader visual illusions like the horizontal-vertical illusion.

Conclusions:

  • The perception of thinner faces when inverted is a robust phenomenon.
  • Disruption of holistic processing does not fully explain the inversion effect on perceived shape.
  • The face inversion illusion may be related to general visual processing principles, such as the horizontal-vertical illusion.