Abstract
Whereas geometric illusions in human faces have been reported by several studies, illusions of color or lightness in faces have seldom been explored. Here, we psychophysically investigated whether lip color influences facial skin’s perceived lightness. Results of Experiment 1 demonstrated that redder lips lightened and darker lips darkened the perceived complexion. These lightness or darkness inducing effects differ from the classical illusion of lightness contrast in nonface objects for two reasons. First, illusory effects are more assimilative than contrastive. Second, the inducing area (i.e., lips) is much smaller than the influenced area (facial skin). Experiment 2 showed that the assimilative lightness induction was caused by holistic processing of faces. This is the first study to scientifically substantiate the claim of cosmetics manufacturers and makeup artists that lip colors can alter perceived facial skin color. Implications for face perception, lightness illusion, and perceptual effects of cosmetics are discussed.
Highlights
This study examined interaction among three fields of perceptual study: face perception, lightness illusion, and perceptual effects of cosmetics
T tests showed that the facial skin with redder lips appeared lighter than that of the original face, t(19) 1⁄4 2.94, p 1⁄4 .017, d 1⁄4 0.57, and the facial skin with darker lips appeared darker than that of the original face, t(19) 1⁄4 4.03, p 1⁄4 .004, d 1⁄4 0.58
Experiment 1 revealed that redder lips made perceived lightness of facial skin lighter and that darker lips made it darker
Summary
This study examined interaction among three fields of perceptual study: face perception, lightness illusion, and perceptual effects of cosmetics. Several studies have examined shape or size illusions in faces (Lee & Freire, 1999; Matsushita, Morikawa, & Yamanami, 2015; Morikawa et al, 2015), illusion of facial color or lightness remains largely unexplored. Makeup artists and advertisements for cosmetics often claim that lip color can influence facial skin’s apparent lightness (e.g., http://verilymag.com/ 2015/02/best-lipstick-skin-tone). We do not have scientific evidence to either support or deny these claims
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