People have a tendency when looking at somebody to start on the left side of the face from the person across from them and then scanning across the face, much in a manner that is similar to reading. This was shown through eye tracking research of how people read emotions of other people. So how this relates to seeing a picture of yourself relates to the idea of how you actually perceive yourself to look. When you look in a mirror, you are using the left side biased discussed above, thus putting an emphasis on your left side of your face. Thus, this is what you think you look like. However, people (and what a camera takes a picture of) are looking at the right side of your face first, thus people don't see you as you see yourself. Take a second to imagine it, and it will all make sense.
Something that piques my interest and seems to be something that is unpublished, or is still in the realm of research being conducted (possible dissertation!) is whether a different culture would show the same left side bias in face recognition and emotion reading. For example, would people who read and speak Arabic, Hebrew, Yiddish, or Persian read faces from the left to the right? I mention these cultures specifically because their language is read from the right to the left unlike our own. I am curious about this because the research on the left side biased has only been tested in Western culture.
Interestingly, man's best friend, dogs, have also shown that they use the left side bias when reading the faces of other people (still, only research conducted in Western culture). Maybe this explains why dogs owners claim that their dog "knows if I'm in a bad mood" and can "read my emotions".
That possible dissertation project sounds interesting. Those eastern cultures also read from bottom to top, and I'd wonder about the effect that had on perception as well.
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