scholarly journals From eye to arrow: Attention capture by direct gaze requires more than just the eyes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Breil ◽  
Lynn Huestegge ◽  
Anne Böckler
Keyword(s):  
Social Information ◽  
Sudden Onset ◽  
Attention Capture ◽  
Context Information ◽  
Head Turn ◽  
Motion Cues ◽  
Direct Gaze ◽  
Human Attention ◽  
Early Effects ◽  
Averted Gaze

Abstract Human attention is strongly attracted by direct gaze and sudden onset motion. The sudden direct-gaze effect refers to the processing advantage for targets appearing on peripheral faces that suddenly establish eye contact. Here, we investigate the necessity of social information for attention capture by (sudden onset) ostensive cues. Six experiments involving 204 participants applied (1) naturalistic faces, (2) arrows, (3) schematic eyes, (4) naturalistic eyes, or schematic facial configurations (5) without or (6) with head turn to an attention-capture paradigm. Trials started with two stimuli oriented towards the observer and two stimuli pointing into the periphery. Simultaneous to target presentation, one direct stimulus changed to averted and one averted stimulus changed to direct, yielding a 2 × 2 factorial design with direction and motion cues being absent or present. We replicated the (sudden) direct-gaze effect for photographic faces, but found no corresponding effects in Experiments 2–6. Hence, a holistic and socially meaningful facial context seems vital for attention capture by direct gaze. Statement of significance The present study highlights the significance of context information for social attention. Our findings demonstrate that the direct-gaze effect, that is, the prioritization of direct gaze over averted gaze, critically relies on the presentation of a meaningful holistic and naturalistic facial context. This pattern of results is evidence in favor of early effects of surrounding social information on attention capture by direct gaze.

Attention Capture and Effective Warning

2009 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Amy Wenxuan Ding
Keyword(s):  
Task Switching ◽  
Attention Mechanism ◽  
Attention Capture ◽  
Single Object ◽  
Selective Listening ◽  
Human Attention ◽  
Listening Task ◽  
The Mind

The term “attention” in psychology is defined as (1) the act or state of attending, especially by applying the mind to an object of sense or thought, and (2) a condition of readiness for such attention (Attention, 2007). Drawing on research carried out for decades in psychology that explores the human attention mechanism to understand a variety of attentional phenomena, such as attention to dimensions and objects, selective listening, task switching, and so forth (e.g., Bundersen, 1990; Heinke & Humphreys, 2003; Logan, 2002; Luce, 1963; Ratcliff, 1978; Ratcliff et al. 1999; Reeves & Sperling, 1986; Shepard, 1957; Shih & Sperling 2002), we examine how attention might be captured and thus identify factors that characterize the effectiveness of a warning advisory. In this context, we use attention to describe awareness, a concentration of the mind on a single object, and a state of consciousness characterized by such concentration and the capacity to maintain selective concentration. Asking a person to pay attention to something implies that the person is aware of this “something” first, and then concentrates his or her mind on it. Therefore, we begin our discussion by defining awareness in this section.

scholarly journals Emotional Gaze: The Effects of Gaze Direction on the Perception of Facial Emotions

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Liang ◽  
Yu-Qing Zou ◽  
Si-Yi Liang ◽  
Yu-Wei Wu ◽  
Wen-Jing Yan
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
Behavioral Intent ◽  
Similar Investigation ◽  
Facial Emotions ◽  
Direct Gaze ◽  
Specific Emotion ◽  
Happy Mood ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Averted Gaze

Previous research has found that when gaze direction matches the underlying behavioral intent communicated by the expression of a specific emotion, it enhances or facilitates the perception of that emotion; this is called the shared signal hypothesis (SSH). Specifically, a direct gaze shares an approach-orientated signal with the emotions of anger and joy, whereas an averted gaze shares an avoidance-orientated signal with fear and sadness. In this research, we attempted to verify the SSH by using different materials on Asian participants. In Experiment 1 we employed photos of models exhibiting direct and averted gazes for rating tasks, in order to study the effects of gaze direction on participants’ perception of emotion. In Experiment 2 we utilized smiling faces in a similar investigation. The results show that for neutral and smiling faces, a direct gaze (relative to a gaze of avoidance) increased the likelihood of a subject perceiving a happy mood; a gaze of avoidance increased the likelihood that anger and fear would be perceived. The effect of gaze direction on emotional expression perception was verified, but a “facilitating-impairing” pattern was not. The difference between our work and previous research may be attributable to the materials employed (which were more ecological), as well as the participants, who were from a different culture.

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

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.

scholarly journals The stare-in-the-crowd effect in the real world: is direct gaze really detected faster than averted gaze?

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1312-1312
Author(s):  
H. Masterman ◽  
C. Ellard ◽  
R. Itier
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
The Real ◽  
Direct Gaze ◽  
Crowd Effect ◽  
Averted Gaze

Averted predator gaze reduces latency to flee by zebra-tailed lizards (Callisaurus draconoides)

2015 ◽  
Vol 65 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 299-310
Author(s):  
William E. Cooper ◽  
Wade C. Sherbrooke
Keyword(s):  
Short Interval ◽  
Fixed Interval ◽  
Short Latency ◽  
Flight Initiation Distance ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Direct Gaze ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Averted Gaze ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Flight Initiation

Directness of a predator’s gaze affects several aspects of antipredatory behavior, including flight initiation distance (FID = predator-prey distance when fleeing begins), which is longer under direct than averted gaze. However, the effect of gaze directness on probability of fleeing or latency to flee (LF) in a short interval when a prey is immobile near an immobile predator is unknown. We predicted that probability of fleeing is greater and LF is shorter if the predator’s gaze is averted than direct. If the predator has not detected the prey, it will detect it immediately and attack when the prey moves while under direct gaze. Therefore, the prey is less likely to flee than if the predator is looking elsewhere. Under direct gaze the cost of fleeing decreases over time because the predator is increasingly likely to detect the prey. Under averted gaze, risk of being detected is constant for immobile prey and increases if the prey flees. Cost of fleeing under averted gaze is therefore constant and lower if the prey flees than under direct gaze at short latency, predicting shorter LF and greater likelihood of fleeing within a short fixed interval. We test this novel prediction of a model of the effect of gaze directness using the zebra-tailed lizard, Callisaurus draconoides. The proportion of lizards that fled was three times greater for averted than direct gaze, suggesting that prey under scrutiny reduce movement to avoid being detected. We discuss effects of gaze on FID, LF and probability of fleeing.

scholarly journals Access to awareness of direct gaze is related to autistic traits

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 980-986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Apoorva Rajiv Madipakkam ◽  
Marcus Rothkirch ◽  
Isabel Dziobek ◽  
Philipp Sterzer
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Direct Gaze ◽  
Adults With Asd ◽  
Behavioural Evidence ◽  
Averted Gaze ◽  
The Continuum

AbstractBackgroundThe atypical processing of eye contact is a characteristic hallmark of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The severity of these symptoms, however, is thought to lie on a continuum that extends into the typical population. While behavioural evidence shows that differences in social cognitive tasks in typically developed (TD) adults are related to the levels of autistic-like traits, it remains unknown whether such a relation exists for the sensitivity to direct gaze.MethodsIn two experiments, we measured reaction times to detect the faces with direct and averted gaze, suppressed from awareness, i.e. the access to awareness. In experiment 1, we tested N = 19 clinically diagnosed adults with ASD and N = 22 TD matched controls, while in experiment 2, we tested an independent sample of N = 20 TD adults.ResultsIn line with the literature, experiment 1 showed preferential processing of direct gaze in the TD group but not in the ASD group. Importantly, we found a linear relationship in both experiments between the levels of autistic traits within the groups of TD participants and their sensitivity to direct gaze: with increasing autistic characteristics, there was a decrease in sensitivity to direct gaze.ConclusionThese results provide the first evidence that differences in gaze processing and the sensitivity to direct gaze are already present in individuals with subclinical levels of autistic traits. Furthermore, they lend support to the continuum view of the disorder and could potentially help in an earlier diagnosis of individuals at high risk for autism.

scholarly journals Conditional effects of gaze on automatic imitation: the role of autistic traits

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Trilla ◽  
Hannah Wnendt ◽  
Isabel Dziobek
Keyword(s):  
Autistic Traits ◽  
The Other ◽  
Spatial Compatibility ◽  
Automatic Imitation ◽  
Direct Gaze ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Conditional Effects ◽  
Averted Gaze ◽  
Gaze Cues

Establishing direct gaze has been shown to enhance the tendency to automatically imitate the other person’s actions, an effect that seems to be reduced in autism. Most previous studies, however, used experimental tasks that may have confounded the measurement of automatic imitation with spatial compatibility effects. This calls into question whether gaze cues regulate automatic imitation, or instead affect domain-general processes of response inhibition. Using a task that disentangled imitative from spatial compatibility effects, the current study re-examined the role of autistic traits on the modulation of automatic imitation by direct and averted gaze cues. While our results do not provide evidence for an overall significant influence of gaze on neither automatic imitation nor spatial compatibility, autistic traits were predictive of a reduced inhibition of imitative behaviour following averted gaze. Nonetheless, exploratory analyses suggested that the observed modulation by autistic traits may actually be better explained by the effects of concomitant social anxiety symptoms. In addition, the ethnicity of the imitated agent was identified as another potential modulator of the gaze effects on automatic imitation. Overall, our findings highlight the contextual nature of automatic imitation, but call for a reconsideration of the role of gaze on imitative behaviour.

scholarly journals Integrating Gaze Direction and Sexual Dimorphism of Face Shape When Perceiving the Dominance of Others

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p6347 ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (9) ◽  
pp. 1275-1283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie C Main ◽  
Benedict C Jones ◽  
Lisa M DeBruine ◽  
Anthony C Little
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Social Perception ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Facial Cues ◽  
Direct Gaze ◽  
Face Shape ◽  
Main Effects ◽  
Averted Gaze ◽  
Gaze Cues

Although gaze direction and face shape have each been shown to affect perceptions of the dominance of others, the question whether gaze direction and face shape have independent main effects on perceptions of dominance, and whether these effects interact, has not yet been studied. To investigate this issue, we compared dominance ratings of faces with masculinised shapes and direct gaze, masculinised shapes and averted gaze, feminised shapes and direct gaze, and feminised shapes and averted gaze. While faces with direct gaze were generally rated as more dominant than those with averted gaze, this effect of gaze direction was greater when judging faces with masculinised shapes than when judging faces with feminised shapes. Additionally, faces with masculinised shapes were rated as more dominant than those with feminised shapes when faces were presented with direct gaze, but not when faces were presented with averted gaze. Collectively, these findings reveal an interaction between the effects of gaze direction and sexually dimorphic facial cues on judgments of the dominance of others, presenting novel evidence for the existence of complex integrative processes that underpin social perception of faces. Integrating information from face shape and gaze cues may increase the efficiency with which we perceive the dominance of others.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document