Neanderthal paintings? : Production of prototypical human (homo sapiens) faces show systematic distortions
Faculty/Professorship: | General Psychology and Methodology |
Author(s): | Wirth, Benedikt Emanuel; Carbon, Claus-Christian ![]() |
Title of the Journal: | Perception |
ISSN: | 1468-4233 |
Publisher Information: | SAGE |
Year of publication: | 2014 |
Volume: | 43 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 99-102 |
Language(s): | English |
DOI: | 10.1068/p7604 |
Abstract: | People’s sketches of human faces seem to be systematically distorted: The eyes’ position is always higher than in reality. This bias was experimentally analyzed by a series of experiments varying drawing conditions. Participants either drew prototypical faces from memory (studies 1 and 2: free reconstruction; study 3: cued reconstruction) or directly copied average faces (study 4). Participants consistently showed this positioning bias, which is even in accord with facial depictions published in influential research articles by famous face researchers (study 5). We discuss plausible explanations for this reliable and stable bias which is coincidentally similar to the morphology of Neanderthals. |
Peer Reviewed: | Ja |
International Distribution: | Ja |
Type: | Article |
URI: | https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/handle/uniba/53070 |
Release Date: | 1. February 2022 |

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University of Bamberg
University of Bamberg