Do you ever feel like you ’re being watched ? By a certainLeonardo da Vinci painting , perhaps ? Scientists call it theMona Lisaeffect : the sense that theeyesof a figure in a picture or photograph are following you as you move around the elbow room . But according to a Modern study in the journali - Perception , the optic in theMona Lisapainting do n’t in reality correspond the criteria .
The Mona Lisa effectisreal — scholars have documented the phenomenon fornearly 2000 long time . The effect does n’t just depend on the charge of the paint figure ’s regard . The figure ’s school principal office in the house painting and the slant of the depiction itself create specificgeometric conditionsin space , distorting the viewer ’s perception of the paint mortal ’s stare . The sensation can occur no matter where the spectator is in telling to the portrayal .
Until now , according to researchers at Bielefeld University in Germany , no one had tested the effect on theMona Lisaitself . Gernot Horstmann and Sebastian Loth , member of the university ’s Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology , designed a study in which 24 participants viewed 15 unlike sections of theMona Lisapainting on a monitor . A elementary ruler was put in front of the monitor , and each viewer mark the spot where they cerebrate the gaze landed on the ruler , which indicated its angle .
An angle of zero meant a straight - at - the - viewer face . A slightly sideward gaze toward the viewer ’s ear , corresponding to a 5 - degree slant , would still prompt the common sense of being view . " But as the slant increase , you would not have the impression of being looked at , ” Horstmann said in astatement .
After analyzing about 2000 assessments from participants , the researchers found that viewers felt the gaze ofLeonardo da Vinci ’s masterpiece to be at an angle of 15.4 degrees — looking off to their correct - hired hand side , rather than directly at them .
“ It is vindicated that the termMona Lisa effectis nothing but a misnomer , ” Horstmann said . But even though this particular phenomenon has been demystify , people’sobsession withthe painting will for certain retain .
