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The eye-size illusion: psychophysical characteristics, generality, and relation to holistic face processing
Perception
|August 12, 2014
Summary
The perception of facial feature size, like eyes or mouth, is influenced by the overall face size. This illusion is reduced when faces are inverted, suggesting holistic processing is key.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Visual Perception
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- A novel eye-size illusion was previously observed where eyes appear smaller in a larger face with unchanged eye size.
- This phenomenon suggests that facial feature perception is context-dependent.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically investigate the relationship between face size manipulation and the perceived size of facial features (eyes and mouth).
- To determine the role of holistic face processing in this size illusion.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: Manipulated face frame size while keeping eye size constant, measuring the perceived eye-size illusion.
- Experiment 2: Replicated the method with mouth size perception.
- Experiments 3 & 4: Presented faces and features upside down to participants from different ethnicities (Chinese and Caucasian) to assess the impact on the illusion.
Main Results:
- The magnitude of the eye-size illusion linearly correlated with the face frame size.
- A similar illusion magnitude was observed for mouth size perception.
- Inverting the faces significantly reduced the illusion's magnitude in both participant groups.
Conclusions:
- Facial feature size perception is relative to the whole face context.
- Holistic processing of faces is crucial for generating this size illusion.
- Disrupting holistic processing, via inversion, diminishes the illusion's effect.
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