|
|
|
Instagram users tend to snap selfies that centre on left eye
|
|
|
|
Top Stories |
|
|
|
|
IANS | 11 Sep, 2019
It may not just be artists who
make their eyes the centre-point of their own original work. New
research suggests that Instagram users tend to compose selfies that
horizontally centre on one of our eyes, particularly the left.
This
alignment is because our eyes provide a wealth of information about our
gaze direction and what we are paying attention to, which may in turn
be used to share important information with the viewer about our mood
and what we are thinking about, suggest the authors of the study.
"The
core result of this study was to replicate my earlier finding that
painters tend to centre one eye in portraits, throughout the centuries,
in a modern version of which the selfie takers are simultaneously both
the artists and the subjects of the portrait," said Christopher Tyler,
Professor at the University of London and a collaborator in the study.
"This
centering tendency opposes the alternative possibility of placing the
symmetric face symmetrically in the frame, which would avoid leaving the
non-centered eye 'out in the cold'. These results are important for
understanding the perceptual principles in operation as these diverse
'portraitists' choose the framing and composition of their pictures,"
Tyler said.
Previous research has suggested that painters apply
the same eye-centering principle in their portraits of others and of
themselves, whether knowingly or not, while other research has argued
that the eye-centering phenomenon may just be a statistical artefact
caused by random processes.
In the current study, the researchers
analysed over 4,000 Instagram selfie photos with an equal proportion
taken in the major cities of New York (US), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Moscow
(Russia), Berlin (Germany) and Bangkok (Thailand).
The study
subdivided the images into 'standard selfies' taken at arm's length
using a camera-phone or a similar digital device, or a 'mirror selfie'
taken of the creator's reflection through a mirror and including the
digital device in shot. This is an important distinction, partly as it
is needed to differentiate whether people have a left or right bias
toward composing their selfies.
For each selfie the horizontal
position of each eye relative to the centre-line of the image was
measured, with the distance and direction of the closest eye recorded.
Statistical
analyses applied to this information showed that the selfie creators
tended to centre one of their eyes slightly to the left of centre of the
selfie, and usually the left eye.
Interestingly, this centering
tendency varied less among selfie subjects than expected if the
phenomenon happened by chance, and was seen consistently across all the
cities sampled in the study.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
|
66.20
|
64.50 |
UK Pound
|
87.50
|
84.65 |
Euro
|
78.25
|
75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
|
|
Daily Poll |
|
|
PM Modi's recent US visit to redefine India-US bilateral relations |
|
|
|
|
|
Commented Stories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|