This Article From Issue
January-February 2020
Volume 108, Number 1
Page 4
DOI: 10.1511/2020.108.1.4
To the Editors:
The mirrored faces (hemifaces) of Brooklyn artist Alex Dodge, included in the article “What Mirrors Do,” by Michael Corballis (May–June 2019) illustrate the phenomenon of facedness. Like handedness, the two sides of the face are bilaterally asymmetric, with the dominant side of the face more muscularly active in articulating vocalizations such as speech and singing. As with right-handedness, a disproportionate number of people are right-faced. However, studies have shown that highly skilled musicians—singers, instrumentalists, conductors—are disproportionately left-faced.
With the depictions of Mr. Dodge’s hemifaces, at the level of the nares his right hemiface is noticeably wider than his left hemiface. Mr. Dodge therefore is right-faced.
Thomas J. Smith
Mendota Heights, MN
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