Araragi, Aotani, and Kitaoka (2012) reported the evidence for a size underestimation of upright faces compared to inverted faces, whereas the reason for it remains unclear. The present study examined the difference in perceptual depth and distance of face (or head) between upright and inverted faces using four photographic faces. An upright face and an inverted face were simultaneously presented, and were compared when they have same physical size, depth and distance. The results of Experiment 1 showed that there was no significant difference in perceptual depth between upright and inverted faces, whereas upright faces was perceived to be significantly smaller than inverted faces. The results of Experiment 2 showed that upright faces were perceived to be significantly further than inverted faces. These results suggested that the size underestimation was not due to perceptual depth and might affect the difference in perceptual distance between upright and inverted faces.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2013