September 20, 2009

the purpose of eyebrows

sadr__ibrau__perception_2003

Volunteers were asked to identify fifty famous faces, including that of former U.S. president Richard Nixon and actor Winona Ryder. The photos were digitally altered and shown either without eyebrows or without eyes. When celebrities lacked eyes, subjects could recognize them nearly 60 percent of the time. However, when celebrities lacked eyebrows, subjects recognized them only 46 percent of time.

(via sullivan via marginal revolution)

posted by Deron Bauman in humans | * | 6 comments 

comments

  1. Kelsey Parker on September 20th, 2009 at 9:57 am

    And I just thought they were to keep the sweat out of our eyes.

  2. range on September 20th, 2009 at 10:05 am

    Diddo. Dang, those two w/o eyebrows look creepy, kinda like something out of X-Files.

  3. Lucy on September 20th, 2009 at 6:01 pm

    We really need to post more stuff on the front page. The eyeless Nixon is shuddersome.

  4. Daryl Scroggins on September 20th, 2009 at 6:08 pm

    Oh I love that word Shuddersome, Lucy. I need that. Thank you. For the word, I mean. Not that which provokes a shuddersome response of course…that’s not…oh hell.

  5. lul on October 21st, 2009 at 8:46 pm

    60 and 46 percent is NOT enough of a a difference to drawn any large conclusions on.

  6. Jools on January 4th, 2010 at 10:28 am

    I’d say it depends on the individual. With Winona Ryder, I find it easier to recognise with eyes rather than eyebrows. With Nixon, I find it easier with eyebrows rather than eyes, because his eyes are small black and insignificant.

    Sorry Nixon.

    Take out the jowls and I wouldn’t stand a chance.

    Guess I wasn’t sorry.

Leave a Reply


Ads via The Deck