“Avoiding or approaching eyes”? Introversion/extraversion affects the gaze-cueing effect

Eye contact constitutes a strong communicative signal in human interactions and has been shown to modulate various cognitive processes and states. However, little is known about its impact on gaze-mediated attentional orienting in the context of its interplay with strategic top-down control. Here, we aimed at investigating how the social component of eye contact interacts with the top-down strategic control. To this end, we designed a gaze cueing paradigm with iCub humanoid robot, in which iCub either established eye contact with the participants before averting its gaze or avoided their eyes. Across four experiments, we manipulated gaze cue validity to either elicit strategic top-down inhibitory activity (25% validity) or to allow for relaxing the control mechanisms (50% validity). Also, we manipulated the stimulus-onset-asynchrony (SOA) to examine the dynamics of the top-down modulatory effects. Our results showed that eye contact influenced the gaze cueing effect when the strategic control was not required, by prolonging the prioritized processing of the gazed-at locations. Thus, the effect was observed only when the measurement was taken after a sufficient amount of time (1000 ms SOA). However, when inhibitory control was necessary (25% validity), the social component was not potent enough to exert influence over the gaze cueing effect independently. Overall, we propose that strategic top-down control is the primary driving force over the gaze cueing effect and that the social aspect plays a modulatory effect by prolonging prioritized processing of gazed-at locations.

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The Gaze Cueing Effect and Its Enhancement by Facial Expressions Are Impacted by Task Demands: Direct Comparison of Target Localization and Discrimination Tasks

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.618606 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Zelin Chen ◽

Sarah D. McCrackin ◽

Alicia Morgan ◽

Roxane J. Itier

Keyword(s):

Emotional Expression ◽

Discrimination Task ◽

Target Localization ◽

Cognitive Resources ◽

Localization Task ◽

Emotional Modulation ◽

Gaze Cueing ◽

The Gaze ◽

Cueing Effect ◽

Gaze Cues

The gaze cueing effect is characterized by faster attentional orienting to a gazed-at than a non-gazed-at target. This effect is often enhanced when the gazing face bears an emotional expression, though this finding is modulated by a number of factors. Here, we tested whether the type of task performed might be one such modulating factor. Target localization and target discrimination tasks are the two most commonly used gaze cueing tasks, and they arguably differ in cognitive resources, which could impact how emotional expression and gaze cues are integrated to orient attention. In a within-subjects design, participants performed both target localization and discrimination gaze cueing tasks with neutral, happy, and fearful faces. The gaze cueing effect for neutral faces was greatly reduced in the discrimination task relative to the localization task, and the emotional enhancement of the gaze cueing effect was only present in the localization task and only when this task was performed first. These results suggest that cognitive resources are needed for gaze cueing and for the integration of emotional expressions and gaze cues. We propose that a shift toward local processing may be the mechanism by which the discrimination task interferes with the emotional modulation of gaze cueing. The results support the idea that gaze cueing can be greatly modulated by top-down influences and cognitive resources and thus taps into endogenous attention. Results are discussed within the context of the recently proposed EyeTune model of social attention.

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