The direction of gaze when asked to compare “eyes”, “nose”, “mouth” and “ears” of a human face and a car front revealed that humans associate headlights with eyes, the grille with the nose, the additional air-intake or the grille with the mouth as well as the side-view mirrors with the ears—independently of brand and car model. The analogy of car fronts and faces was also obvious on a more subconscious level: Irrespective of the actual task, the headlights of the cars were fixated most, which parallels the role of eyes in face perception.

This supports the widely held belief that car fronts might be interpreted face-like, which opens up novel possibilities for automotive design and marketing. Consequences for driving and pedestrian behavior yield a fascinating direction for future research.

This study has been published in Collegium Antropologicum:

Windhager S., Hutzler F., Carbon C.-C., Oberzaucher E., Schaefer K., Thorstensen T.,

Leder H., Grammer K. (2010). Laying eyes on headlights: Eye movements suggest facial features in cars. Collegium Antropologicum 34(3) 1075–1080.

Link: http://www.collantropol.hr/?id_0=2&year_id=559&vol_id=601