Effects of Directional Habits and Handedness on Aesthetic Preference for Left and Right Profiles

Are aesthetic preferences associated with directional reading/writing habits or with cerebral laterality? To answer this question, 138 right-handed and non-right-handed Arabic, Hebrew, and Russian readers were presented with pairs of facial and bodily profiles; one member of each pair was turning to the left, and the other was turning to the right. The participants determined their aesthetic preferences for one member of each pair. If aesthetic preferences are associated with laterality, differential preferences were expected for right-handers and non-right-handers. However, if these preferences are linked to reading/writing habits, differential preferences were expected for Arabic and Hebrew readers who read and write from right to left and Russian readers who read and write from left to right. Data analyses showed that Arabic and Hebrew readers preferred both facial and bodily profiles that turned to the right, whereas Russian readers preferred the profiles that turned to the left. The data were interpreted as showing that aesthetic preferences are associated primarily with reading/writing habits.

[1]  Jyotsna Vaid,et al.  Asymmetries in the perception of facial affect: Is there an influence of reading habits? , 1989, Neuropsychologia.

[2]  I. Nachson,et al.  Impairments in judgment of chimeric faces by schizophrenic and affective patients. , 1999, The International journal of neuroscience.

[3]  S. Wapner,et al.  The influence of lateral organization on the evaluation of paintings. , 1979, British journal of psychology.

[4]  T. M. Nelson,et al.  Lateral Organization, Perceived Depth and Title Preference in Pictures , 1971, Perceptual and motor skills.

[5]  R. C. Oldfield.  The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. , 1971, Neuropsychologia.

[6]  D. Perrett,et al.  Perceptual asymmetries in judgements of facial attractiveness, age, gender, speech and expression , 1997, Neuropsychologia.

[7]  S. Christman,et al.  Lateral biases in aesthetic preferences: pictorial dimensions and neural mechanisms. , 1997, Laterality.

[8]  J. Levy.  Lateral dominance and aesthetic preference , 1976, Neuropsychologia.

[9]  J. P. Mclaughlin,et al.  The roles of handedness and stimulus asymmetry in aesthetic preference , 1992, Brain and Cognition.

[10]  J. Herron.  Neuropsychology of left-handedness , 1980 .

[11]  J. P. Mclaughlin,et al.  Preference for Profile Orientation in Portraits , 1994 .

[12]  A W Ellis,et al.  Left and wrong in adverts: Neuropsychological correlates of aesthetic preference. , 1981, British journal of psychology.

[13]  Anat Ninio,et al.  Developmental Trends in Directionality of Drawing in Jewish and Arab Israeli Children , 1975 .

[14]  S. H. Bartley,et al.  A Further Study of Horizontal Asymmetry in the Perception of Pictures , 1959 .

[15]  T. Hatta,et al.  Image generation and handedness: is the hemi-imagery method valid for studying the hemisphere imagery generation process? , 1997, Neuropsychologia.

[16]  J. P. Mclaughlin,et al.  Aesthetic preference in dextrals and sinistrals , 1983, Neuropsychologia.

[17]  Zohar Eviatar,et al.  Language Experience and Right Hemisphere Tasks: The Effects of Scanning Habits and Multilingualism , 1997, Brain and Language.

[18]  P Bakan,et al.  Visual asymmetry in perception of faces. , 1973, Neuropsychologia.

[19]  J. Beaumont.  Lateral organization and aesthetic preference: The importance of peripheral visual asymmetries , 1985, Neuropsychologia.

[20]  S. H. Bartley,et al.  Phenomenal Distance in Scenes with Independent Manipulation of Major and Minor Items , 1960 .

[21]  I. Nachshon.  Cross-Cultural Differences in Directionality , 1981 .

[22]  Wendy Heller,et al.  Aesthetic Preference and Picture Asymmetries , 1989, Cortex.

[23]  A. Toro,et al.  A directional bias for studies of laterality , 1989, Neuropsychologia.

[24]  I. Nachshon,et al.  Directional preferences in perception of visual stimuli. , 1985, The International journal of neuroscience.

[25]  J. P. Mclaughlin.  Aesthetic preference and lateral preferences , 1986, Neuropsychologia.

[26]  I. Nachshon,et al.  Asymmetry in lateral directionality. , 1983, The International journal of neuroscience.

[27]  D. Zaidel,et al.  Sex of the Face in Western Art: Left and Right in Portraits , 1994 .

[28]  C. Gross,et al.  Left and Right in Science and Art , 1978 .