Assessing early processing of eye gaze in schizophrenia: measuring the cone of direct gaze and reflexive orienting of attention

Previous research has shown that direct gaze elicits more hits than deviated gaze in face recognition tasks. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether the state of awareness that accompanied recognition was different for faces with eye gaze directed toward the observer as compared with faces looking elsewhere. This state of awareness was assessed using the “Remember-Know-Guess” paradigm. Three different experiments were conducted including, respectively, 24 (12 women, 12 men), 24 (12 women, 12 men), and 28 (15 women, 13 men) volunteer participants ages 18 to 31 ( M1 = 20.8, SD1 = 2.8; M2 = 20.7, SD2 = 2.4; M3 = 21.5, SD3 = 3.6). Experiments comprised two incidental learning experiments using, respectively, frontal views and profile views of faces at encoding, and one intentional learning experiment using profile views of faces at encoding. Surprisingly, the effect of direct gaze observed in previous studies was not replicated. The rates of Hits were not significantly higher for faces showing direct gaze than for faces with deviated gaze across the three experiments. However, in the intentional learning experiment, rates of Remember responses were significantly higher in the direct gaze than in the deviated gaze condition.

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Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1702493114 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 114 (50) ◽

pp. 13290-13295 ◽

Cited By ~ 72

Author(s):

Victoria Leong ◽

Elizabeth Byrne ◽

Kaili Clackson ◽

Stanimira Georgieva ◽

Sarah Lam ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Neural Activity ◽

Information Transfer ◽

Eye Gaze ◽

Network Connectivity ◽

Neural Connectivity ◽

Partial Directed Coherence ◽

Social Signals ◽

Early Communication ◽

Direct Gaze ◽

Communicative Intention

When infants and adults communicate, they exchange social signals of availability and communicative intention such as eye gaze. Previous research indicates that when communication is successful, close temporal dependencies arise between adult speakers’ and listeners’ neural activity. However, it is not known whether similar neural contingencies exist within adult–infant dyads. Here, we used dual-electroencephalography to assess whether direct gaze increases neural coupling between adults and infants during screen-based and live interactions. In experiment 1 (n = 17), infants viewed videos of an adult who was singing nursery rhymes with (i) direct gaze (looking forward), (ii) indirect gaze (head and eyes averted by 20°), or (iii) direct-oblique gaze (head averted but eyes orientated forward). In experiment 2 (n = 19), infants viewed the same adult in a live context, singing with direct or indirect gaze. Gaze-related changes in adult–infant neural network connectivity were measured using partial directed coherence. Across both experiments, the adult had a significant (Granger) causal influence on infants’ neural activity, which was stronger during direct and direct-oblique gaze relative to indirect gaze. During live interactions, infants also influenced the adult more during direct than indirect gaze. Further, infants vocalized more frequently during live direct gaze, and individual infants who vocalized longer also elicited stronger synchronization from the adult. These results demonstrate that direct gaze strengthens bidirectional adult–infant neural connectivity during communication. Thus, ostensive social signals could act to bring brains into mutual temporal alignment, creating a joint-networked state that is structured to facilitate information transfer during early communication and learning.

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Neurodynamics and connectivity during facial fear perception: The role of threat exposure and signal congruity

10.1101/149112 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Cody Cushing ◽

Hee Yeon Im ◽

Reginald B. Adams ◽

Noreen Ward ◽

Daniel N. Albohn ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Face Processing ◽

Eye Gaze ◽

Phase Locking ◽

Gaze Direction ◽

Stimulus Exposure ◽

Direct Gaze ◽

Fearful Faces ◽

Threat Cues ◽

Averted Gaze

AbstractFearful faces convey threat cues whose meaning is contextualized by eye gaze: While averted gaze is congruent with facial fear (both signal avoidance), direct gaze is incongruent with it, as direct gaze signals approach. We have previously shown using fMRI that the amygdala is engaged more strongly by fear with averted gaze, which has been found to be processed more efficiently, during brief exposures. However, the amygdala also responds more to fear with direct gaze during longer exposures. Here we examined previously unexplored brain oscillatory responses to characterize the neurodynamics and connectivity during brief (∼250 ms) and longer (∼883 ms) exposures of fearful faces with direct or averted eye gaze. We replicated the exposure time by gaze direction interaction in fMRI (N=23), and observed greater early phase locking to averted-gaze fear (congruent threat signal) with MEG (N=60) in a network of face processing regions, with both brief and longer exposures. Phase locking to direct-gaze fear (incongruent threat signal) then increased significantly for brief exposures at ∼350 ms, and at ∼700 ms for longer exposures. Our results characterize the stages of congruent and incongruent facial threat signal processing and show that stimulus exposure strongly affects the onset and duration of these stages.

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Shared neural codes for eye-gaze and valence

10.1101/736462 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Raviv Pryluk ◽

Yosef Shohat ◽

Anna Morozov ◽

Dafna Friedman ◽

Aryeh H. Taub ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Eye Gaze ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Appetitive Conditioning ◽

Neural Responses ◽

Neural Codes ◽

Direct Gaze ◽

Shared Activity ◽

Correlated Activity ◽

The Social

AbstractThe eye-gaze of others is a prominent social cue in primates and crucial for communication1-7, and atypical processing occurs in several conditions as autism-spectrum-disorder (ASD)1,9-14. The neural mechanisms that underlie eye-gaze remain vague, and it is still debated if these computations developed in dedicated neural circuits or shared with non-social elements. In many species, eye-gaze signals a threat and elicits anxiety, yet can also serve as a predictor for the outcome of the encounter: negative or positive2,4,8. Here, we hypothesized and find that neural codes overlap between eye-gaze and valence. Monkeys participated in a modified version of the human-intruder-test8,15 that includes direct and averted eye-gaze and interleaved with blocks of aversive and appetitive conditioning16,17. We find that single-neurons in the amygdala encode gaze18, whereas neurons in the anterior-cingulate-cortex encode the social context19,20 but not gaze. We identify a shared amygdala circuitry where neural responses to averted and direct gaze parallel the responses to appetitive and aversive value, correspondingly. Importantly, we distinguish two shared coding mechanisms: a shared-intensity scheme that is used for gaze and the unconditioned-stimulus, and a shared-activity scheme that is used for gaze and the conditioned-stimulus. The shared-intensity points to overlap in circuitry, whereas the shared-activity requires also correlated activity. Our results demonstrate that eye-gaze is coded as a signal of valence, yet also as the expected value of the interaction. The findings may suggest new insights into the mechanisms that underlie the malfunction of eye-gaze in ASD and the comorbidity with impaired social skills and anxiety.

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Normal and Impaired Reflexive Orienting of Attention after Central Nonpredictive Cues

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2009.21054 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 745-759 ◽

Cited By ~ 51

Author(s):

Mario Bonato ◽

Konstantinos Priftis ◽

Roberto Marenzi ◽

Marco Zorzi

Keyword(s):

Eye Gaze ◽

Detection Task ◽

Attentional Orienting ◽

Hemispatial Neglect ◽

Exogenous Orienting ◽

Reflexive Orienting ◽

Right Brain ◽

Peculiar Form ◽

Peripheral Cues ◽

Healthy Participants

Recent studies suggest that stimuli with directional meaning can trigger lateral shifts of visuospatial attention when centrally presented as noninformative cues. We investigated covert orienting in healthy participants and in a group of 17 right brain-damaged patients (9 with hemispatial neglect) comparing arrows, eye gaze, and digits as central nonpredictive cues in a detection task. Orienting effects elicited by arrows and eye gaze were overall consistent in healthy participants and in right brain-damaged patients, whereas digit cues were ineffective. Moreover, patients with neglect showed, at the shortest delay between cue and target, a disengage deficit for arrow cueing whose magnitude was predicted by neglect severity. We conclude that the peculiar form of attentional orienting triggered by the directional meaning of arrow cues presents some features previously thought to characterize only the stimulus-driven (exogenous) orienting to noninformative peripheral cues.

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No influence of eye gaze on emotional face processing in the absence of conscious awareness

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-019-52728-y ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nathan Caruana ◽

Christine Inkley ◽

Marwa El Zein ◽

Kiley Seymour

Keyword(s):

Face Processing ◽

Eye Gaze ◽

Gaze Direction ◽

Conscious Awareness ◽

Privileged Access ◽

Direct Gaze ◽

Fearful Faces ◽

Emotional Face Processing ◽

Threat Cues ◽

Emotional Face

Abstract The human brain has evolved specialised mechanisms to enable the rapid detection of threat cues, including emotional face expressions (e.g., fear and anger). However, contextual cues – such as gaze direction – influence the ability to recognise emotional expressions. For instance, anger paired with direct gaze, and fear paired with averted gaze are more accurately recognised compared to alternate conjunctions of these features. It is argued that this is because gaze direction conveys the relevance and locus of the threat to the observer. Here, we used continuous flash suppression (CFS) to assess whether the modulatory effect of gaze direction on emotional face processing occurs outside of conscious awareness. Previous research using CFS has demonstrated that fearful facial expressions are prioritised by the visual system and gain privileged access to awareness over other expressed emotions. We hypothesised that if the modulatory effects of gaze on emotional face processing occur also at this level, then the gaze-emotion conjunctions signalling self-relevant threat will reach awareness faster than those that do not. We report that fearful faces gain privileged access to awareness over angry faces, but that gaze direction does not modulate this effect. Thus, our findings suggest that previously reported effects of gaze direction on emotional face processing are likely to occur once the face is detected, where the self-relevance and locus of the threat can be consciously appraised.

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Effect of the model eye gaze direction on consumer information processing: a consideration of gender differences

Online Information Review ◽

10.1108/oir-01-2020-0025 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 44 (7) ◽

pp. 1403-1420

Author(s):

Qiuzhen Wang ◽

Lan Ma ◽

Liqiang Huang ◽

Lei Wang

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Information Processing ◽

Peer Review ◽

Eye Gaze ◽

Consumer Information ◽

Gaze Direction ◽

Content Type ◽

Direct Gaze ◽

Female Consumers ◽

Averted Gaze

PurposeThe purpose of this paper aims to investigate the effect of a model's eye gaze direction on the information processing behavior of consumers varying based on their gender.Design/methodology/approachAn eye-tracking experiment and a memory test are conducted to test the research hypotheses.FindingsCompared to an averted gaze, a model with a direct gaze attracts more attention to the model's face among male consumers, leading to deeper processing. However, the findings show that when a model displays a direct gaze rather than an averted gaze, female consumers pay more attention to the brand name, thus leading to deeper processing.Originality/valueThis study contributes to not only the existing eye gaze direction literature by integrating the facilitative effect of direct gaze and considering the moderating role of consumer gender on consumer information processing but also the literature concerning the selectivity hypothesis by providing evidence of gender differences in information processing. Moreover, this study offers practical insights to practitioners regarding how to design appealing webpages to satisfy consumers of different genders.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-01-2020-0025

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Dysfunctional temporal stages of eye-gaze perception in adults with ADHD: a high-density EEG study

10.1101/2021.10.14.464365 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Cheyenne Mauriello ◽

Eleonore Pham ◽

Samika Kumar ◽

Camille Piguet ◽

Jean-Michel Aubry ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Cognitive ◽

Eye Gaze ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Adult Brain ◽

Matching Task ◽

Gaze Perception ◽

Neural Basis ◽

Direct Gaze ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Reduced Activity

ADHD have been associated with social cognitive impairments across the lifespan, but no studies have specifically addressed the presence of abnormalities in eye-gaze processing in the adult brain. This study investigated the neural basis of eye-gaze perception in adults with ADHD using event-related potentials (ERP). Twenty-three ADHD and 23 controls performed a delayed face-matching task with neutral faces that had either direct or averted gaze. ERPs were classified using microstate analyses. ADHD and controls displayed similar P100 and N170 microstates. ADHD was associated with cluster abnormalities in the attention-sensitive P200 to direct gaze, and in the N250 related to facial recognition. For direct gaze, source localization revealed reduced activity in ADHD for the P200 in the left/midline cerebellum, as well as in a cingulate-occipital network at the N250. These results suggest brain impairments involving eye-gaze decoding in adults with ADHD, suggesting that neural deficits persist across the lifespan.

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Sex-related differences in behavioral and amygdalar responses to compound facial threat cues

10.1101/179051 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Hee Yeon Im ◽

Reginald B. Adams ◽

Cody A. Cushing ◽

Jasmine Boshyan ◽

Noreen Ward ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Eye Gaze ◽

Dual Processing ◽

Direct Gaze ◽

Emotional Perception ◽

The Face ◽

Threat Cues ◽

Face Stimuli ◽

The Right ◽

Averted Gaze ◽

Facial Threat

AbstractDuring face perception, we integrate facial expression and eye gaze to take advantage of their shared signals. For example, fear with averted gaze provides a congruent avoidance cue, signaling both threat presence and its location, whereas fear with direct gaze sends an incongruent cue, leaving threat location ambiguous. It has been proposed that the processing of different combinations of threat cues is mediated by dual processing routes: reflexive processing via magnocellular (M) pathway and reflective processing via parvocellular (P) pathway. Because growing evidence has identified a variety of sex differences in emotional perception, here we also investigated how M and P processing of fear and eye gaze might be modulated by observer’s sex, focusing on the amygdala, a structure important to threat perception and affective appraisal. We adjusted luminance and color of face stimuli to selectively engage M or P processing and asked observers to identify emotion of the face. Female observers showed more accurate behavioral responses to faces with averted gaze and greater left amygdala reactivity both to fearful and neutral faces. Conversely, males showed greater right amygdala activation only for M-biased averted-gaze fear faces. In addition to functional reactivity differences, females had greater bilateral amygdala volumes, which positively correlated with behavioral accuracy for M-biased fear. Conversely, in males only the right amygdala volume was positively correlated with accuracy for M-biased fear faces. Our findings suggest that M and P processing of facial threat cues is modulated by functional and structural differences in the amygdalae associated with observer’s sex.

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