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100 Things You Should Know About People: #95 — People Decide Who And What Is Alive By The Eyes

by

Susan Weinschenk

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In a previous post, I talked about the special part of the brain that is for recognizing faces. New research by Christine Looser shows that “the eyes have it” when it comes to faces.

When is a face human and alive? — Christine Looser takes pictures of people and then morphs them in stages into inanimate manniquin faces. She shows the stages and has people decide when the picture is no longer a human and alive. Here is an example of the pictures she uses:

Man's face morphing from human to mannequin
When does the face stop being alive?

Her research found that there is a spot, about 75% down the continuum, where people say they are not people/alive anymore. She also found that people primarily use the eyes to decide if a picture is human and alive.

What do you think? Starting from the left, which face is “no longer alive”?

And if you like to read the research:

Looser, Christine E. & Wheatley, T. (2010). The tipping point of animacy: How, when, and where we perceive life in a face. Psychological Science, 21(12), 1854–1862.

Comments

7 responses to “100 Things You Should Know About People: #95 — People Decide Who And What Is Alive By The Eyes”

  1. Flavius Stef Avatar
    Flavius Stef

    I’d say the fourth from the left is still borderline human. The fifth, not so much anymore.

    Reply
  2. Keith Lang Avatar
    Keith Lang

    I agree. (before I saw Flavius comment) — 5th one from the left, to me is no longer human.

    I’d like to see this test done with different anchoring, (not take it so far in either direction.

    Reply
  3. martokus Avatar
    martokus

    “…She also found that people primarily use the eyes to decide if a picture is human and alive.”

    Duh! This is a no-brainer… I really hope it’s just a reference mistake and not a finding from the real study.

    Reply
  4. Leigh Avatar
    Leigh

    I agree with you Flavius, though my 3 year old places it at 7 from the left.

    Reply
  5. Rafael Avatar
    Rafael

    All faces look Human (Eyes, nose, mouth..) but for me the 7th is not alive, and thats beause I have other ones to choose and decide. Maybe if I’d see them individually I could not tell.

    Reply
  6. Dave Avatar
    Dave

    I say 7 as well. If I saw 6th as a thumbnail on the web, I wouldn’t think twice. If I saw 7th, I’d think it gave me an odd vibe, and look closer until I decided it wasn’t real. If I saw 8th or farther, I would instantly know it was not real.

    Reply
  7. Edward Avatar
    Edward

    #7 from the left is the beginning of more white to the eyes. I blocked out from the eyes down on the screen and it became clear where the eyes changed significantly. When there is more white of the eye showing is this akin to being lifeless?

    If you block out the eyes and can only see the tip of the nose and mouth you can see where the teeth look phoney and the drop off for me is the same – #7 is not real.

    Reply

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