Inverted Faces

Abstract

Investigations of the human face have featured prominently in perception and in Perception over recent years. Much debate has concerned whether the face is a special stimulus or one that is both very familiar and important for social interactions. A robust aspect of face perception is the difficulty posed when faces are presented upside down. As Rock (1973) noted:``Along with printed and written words, faces represent one of the few types of material that do look different enough to impede recognition when retinally tilted by 908 or more'' (page 59). Indeed, one of the novel manipulations on this theme was introduced in Perception. Peter Thompson (1980) demonstrated that inverted elements of the face, like eyes and lips, are more readily tolerated when the rest of the face is inverted than when upright: upright elements in an inverted face do not look as grotesque as inverted elements in an otherwise upright face (see http://www.essex.ac.uk/psychology/visual/thatcher.html). The particular face Thompson used for this demonstration was that of the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and it is now known as the Thatcher illusion. Another manipulation of her visage is shown in figure 1, where three faces are seenötwo three-quarter profiles and a central mannequin. The two profiles alternate in apparent depth rather like the Necker rhomboid. The symbols defining the faces are not arbitrary, and this cannot be considered as a truthful rendition! The title of the illustration is after a quotation from her Cabinet Secretary when, as a witness in a spy trial in Australia, he admitted to having been economical with the truth.

Pulling Faces: An Investigation of the Face-Distortion Aftereffect

“…However, they found no difference in the magnitude of the aftereffect when test and adapting faces were both upright or inverted. If the FDAE were due purely to adaptation of mechanisms specific to face processing then it would be expected to show an inversion effect (for a historical review of face inversion effects see Wade et al 2003). Specifically, a larger FDAE would be expected for upright faces as only faces oriented within 908 of upright are thought to engage holistic or configurational face-processing mechanisms (Boutet and Chaudhuri 2001;McKone et al 2001).…”

Recognition and Eye Movements with Partially Hidden Pictures of Faces and Cars in Different Orientations

“…This applies particularly to pictures of faces (Köhler 1940; Rock 1973; Rossion 2008; Yin 1969) and it has been an aspect of artistic manipulation for centuries (Wade 2007; Wade and Nekes 2005; Wade et al 2003). When discussing the optical inversion experiments of Stratton (1897), Wolfgang Köhler described the effect clearly: “For this experiment I select a picture, or outline-drawing of an object, which shows a conspicuous change in appearance when it is upside down.…”

Examining art: dissociating pattern and perceptual influences on oculomotor behaviour

“…Rendering faces difficult to discern by inverting them is an old device in art, as is combining upright and inverted heads (Wade, 2000(Wade, , 2007Wade et al, 2003;Wade and Nekes, 2005). It has been well established in the psychological literature that inverted faces are harder to process and recognise than upright faces (Yin, 1969;Yoval and Kanwisher, 2005).…”