Detection of Mooney faces is robust to image asymmetries produced by illumination.

ABSTRACT: Face detection relies on the visual features that are shared across different faces. An important component of the basic spatial configuration of a face is symmetry around the vertical midline. Although human faces are structurally symmetrical, they can be asymmetrical in an image due to the direction of lighting or the position of the face. In the experiments presented here, we examined how face detection from simple contrast patterns that occur across the face is affected by the image asymmetries associated with variations in the horizontal lighting direction. We presented observers with two-tone images of faces (Mooney faces) that isolated the unique pattern of contrast in the shading and shadows on a face, illuminated from a wide range of horizontal directions. In two experiments, we f

SUBMITTER: Peterson LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10615147 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature