Left-view sequences of faces are superior to right-view ones for view generalization

Abstract

Faces learned from multiple viewpoints are recognized better with left than right three-quarter views. This left-view superiority could be explained by perceptual experience, facial asymmetry, or hemispheric specialization. In the present study, we investigated whether left-view sequences are also more effective in recognizing same and novel views of a face. In a sequential matching task, a view sequence showing a face rotating around a left (−30°) or a right (+30°) angle, with an amplitude of 30°, was followed by a static test view with the same viewpoint as the sequence (−30° or +30°) or with a novel one (0°, +30°, or −30°). We found a superiority of left-view sequences independently of the test viewpoint, but no superiority of left over right test views. These results do not seem compatible with the perceptual experience hypothesis, which predicts superiority only for left-side test views (−30°). Also, a facial asymmetry judgement task showed no correlation between the asymmetry of individual faces and the left-view sequence superiority. A superiority of left-view sequences for novel as well as same test views argues in favour of an explanation by hemispheric specialization, because of the possible role of the right hemisphere in extracting facial identity information.

Keywords:

• Left-view superiority
• Hemispheric specialization
• Perceptual experience
• Facial asymmetry
• Attention

We thank Stéphane Hain and Anaïs Andreassian for their help creating the video databank, Jennifer Bitar for running participants of the second experiment, and Carole Birkan-Berz for correcting our English. This work was supported by an Agence Nationale de la Recherche grant (ANR-07-BLAN-0051) to ES. We also thank the anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this paper.

We thank Stéphane Hain and Anaïs Andreassian for their help creating the video databank, Jennifer Bitar for running participants of the second experiment, and Carole Birkan-Berz for correcting our English. This work was supported by an Agence Nationale de la Recherche grant (ANR-07-BLAN-0051) to ES. We also thank the anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this paper.