From eye to arrow

Attention capture by direct gaze requires more than just the eyes

verfasst von

Christina Breil, Lynn Huestegge, Anne Böckler

Abstract

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.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Psychologie

Externe Organisation(en)

Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
Max-Planck-Institut für Kognitions- und Neurowissenschaften

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics

Band

84

Seiten

64-75

Anzahl der Seiten

12

ISSN

1943-3921

Publikationsdatum

01.2022

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Experimentelle und kognitive Psychologie, Sprache und Linguistik, Sensorische Systeme, Linguistik und Sprache

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-021-02382-2 (Zugang: Offen)