Buzz
Have you ever experienced the sensation of being watched? Perhaps by a particular Leonardo da Vinci painting? This is what scientists refer to as the Mona Lisa effect: the feeling that the eyes of a figure in a painting or photograph are following you as you move about. However, a recent study published in the journal i-Perception suggests that the eyes in the Mona Lisa don't meet the necessary criteria to create this effect.
The Mona Lisa effect is real—this phenomenon has been recorded by scholars for nearly two millennia. It's not only about where the painted figure's gaze is directed. The positioning of the figure’s head and the angle of the painting itself generate specific geometric conditions, which distort how the viewer perceives the figure's gaze. This sensation can occur regardless of the viewer's position in relation to the painting.
Until now, no one had tested this effect on the Mona Lisa itself, according to researchers from Bielefeld University in Germany. Gernot Horstmann and Sebastian Loth, members of the university’s Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology, designed a study where 24 participants viewed 15 distinct sections of the Mona Lisa on a monitor. A simple ruler was placed in front of the screen, and each participant marked where they believed the gaze landed on the ruler, which indicated the angle of the gaze.
An angle of zero indicated a direct gaze toward the viewer. A slight shift toward the viewer’s ear, at a 5-degree angle, would still give the feeling of being watched. "However, as the angle increases, the sensation of being observed fades away,” Horstmann explained in a statement.
After reviewing nearly 2000 responses from participants, the researchers discovered that viewers perceived the gaze in Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece to be at an angle of 15.4 degrees—directed toward their right-hand side, not straight at them.
“It is evident that the term Mona Lisa effect is a misnomer,” Horstmann stated. While this specific phenomenon has been clarified, people's fascination with the painting is likely to endure.
