What affects facing direction in human facial profile drawing? A meta-analytic inquiry

Perception. 2014;43(12):1377-92. doi: 10.1068/p7805.

Abstract

Two meta-analyses were conducted to examine two potential sources of spatial orientation biases in human profile drawings by brain-intact individuals. The first examined profile facing direction as function of hand used to draw. The second examined profile facing direction in relation to directional scanning biases related to reading/writing habits. Results of the first meta-analysis, based on 27 study samples with 4171 participants, showed that leftward facing of profiles (from the viewer's perspective) was significantly associated with using the right hand to draw. The reading/writing direction meta-analysis, based on 10 study samples with 1552 participants, suggested a modest relationship between leftward profile facing and primary use of a left-to-right reading/writing direction. These findings suggest that biomechanical and cultural factors jointly influence hand movement preferences and in turn the direction of facing of human profile drawings.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Art*
  • Choice Behavior
  • Face*
  • Functional Laterality
  • Habits
  • Humans
  • Orientation*
  • Reading
  • Spatial Processing*
  • Writing