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Landmann E, Breil C, Huestegge L, Böckler A. The semantics of gaze in person perception: a novel qualitative-quantitative approach. Sci Rep 2024; 14:893. [PMID: 38195808 PMCID: PMC10776783 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-51331-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/31/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Interpreting gaze behavior is essential in evaluating interaction partners, yet the 'semantics of gaze' in dynamic interactions are still poorly understood. We aimed to comprehensively investigate effects of gaze behavior patterns in different conversation contexts, using a two-step, qualitative-quantitative procedure. Participants watched video clips of single persons listening to autobiographic narrations by another (invisible) person. The listener's gaze behavior was manipulated in terms of gaze direction, frequency and direction of gaze shifts, and blink frequency; emotional context was manipulated through the valence of the narration (neutral/negative). In Experiment 1 (qualitative-exploratory), participants freely described which states and traits they attributed to the listener in each condition, allowing us to identify relevant aspects of person perception and to construct distinct rating scales that were implemented in Experiment 2 (quantitative-confirmatory). Results revealed systematic and differential meanings ascribed to the listener's gaze behavior. For example, rapid blinking and fast gaze shifts were rated more negatively (e.g., restless and unnatural) than slower gaze behavior; downward gaze was evaluated more favorably (e.g., empathetic) than other gaze aversion types, especially in the emotionally negative context. Overall, our study contributes to a more systematic understanding of flexible gaze semantics in social interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva Landmann
- Department of Psychology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), 97070, Würzburg, Germany.
| | - Christina Breil
- Department of Psychology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), 97070, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Lynn Huestegge
- Department of Psychology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), 97070, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Anne Böckler
- Department of Psychology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), 97070, Würzburg, Germany
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2
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Abubshait A, Kompatsiari K, Cardellicchio P, Vescovo E, De Tommaso D, Fadiga L, D'Ausilio A, Wykowska A. Modulatory Effects of Communicative Gaze on Attentional Orienting Are Driven by Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex but Not Right Temporoparietal Junction. J Cogn Neurosci 2023; 35:1670-1680. [PMID: 37432740 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/12/2023]
Abstract
Communicative gaze (e.g., mutual or averted) has been shown to affect attentional orienting. However, no study to date has clearly separated the neural basis of the pure social component that modulates attentional orienting in response to communicative gaze from other processes that might be a combination of attentional and social effects. We used TMS to isolate the purely social effects of communicative gaze on attentional orienting. Participants completed a gaze-cueing task with a humanoid robot who engaged either in mutual or in averted gaze before shifting its gaze. Before the task, participants received either sham stimulation (baseline), stimulation of right TPJ (rTPJ), or dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). Results showed, as expected, that communicative gaze affected attentional orienting in baseline condition. This effect was not evident for rTPJ stimulation. Interestingly, stimulation to rTPJ also canceled out attentional orienting altogether. On the other hand, dmPFC stimulation eliminated the socially driven difference in attention orienting between the two gaze conditions while maintaining the basic general attentional orienting effect. Thus, our results allowed for separation of the pure social effect of communicative gaze on attentional orienting from other processes that are a combination of social and generic attentional components.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Enrico Vescovo
- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy
- Universita di Ferrara, Italy
| | | | - Luciano Fadiga
- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ferrara, Italy
- Universita di Ferrara, Italy
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3
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Burra N, Vrtička P. Association between attachment anxiety and the gaze direction-related N170. Attach Hum Dev 2023; 25:181-198. [PMID: 35924946 DOI: 10.1080/14616734.2022.2091337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Attachment theory suggests that interindividual differences in attachment security versus insecurity (anxiety and avoidance) contribute to the ways in which people perceive social emotional signals, particularly from the human face. Among different facial features, eye gaze conveys crucial information for social interaction, with a straight gaze triggering different cognitive and emotional processes as compared to an averted gaze. It remains unknown, however, how interindividual differences in attachment associate with early face encoding in the context of a straight versus averted gaze. Using electroencephalography (EEG) and recording event-related potentials (ERPs), specifically the N170 component, the present study (N = 50 healthy adults) measured how the characteristics of attachment anxiety and avoidance relate to the encoding of faces with respect to gaze direction and head orientation. Our findings reveal a significant relationship between gaze direction (irrespective of head orientation) and attachment anxiety on the interhemispheric (i.e. right) asymmetry of the N170 and thus provide evidence for an association between attachment anxiety and eye gaze processing during early visual face encoding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Burra
- Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Pascal Vrtička
- Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK
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4
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Morillo-Mendez L, Schrooten MGS, Loutfi A, Mozos OM. Age-Related Differences in the Perception of Robotic Referential Gaze in Human-Robot Interaction. Int J Soc Robot 2022:1-13. [PMID: 36185773 PMCID: PMC9510350 DOI: 10.1007/s12369-022-00926-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
There is an increased interest in using social robots to assist older adults during their daily life activities. As social robots are designed to interact with older users, it becomes relevant to study these interactions under the lens of social cognition. Gaze following, the social ability to infer where other people are looking at, deteriorates with older age. Therefore, the referential gaze from robots might not be an effective social cue to indicate spatial locations to older users. In this study, we explored the performance of older adults, middle-aged adults, and younger controls in a task assisted by the referential gaze of a Pepper robot. We examined age-related differences in task performance, and in self-reported social perception of the robot. Our main findings show that referential gaze from a robot benefited task performance, although the magnitude of this facilitation was lower for older participants. Moreover, perceived anthropomorphism of the robot varied less as a result of its referential gaze in older adults. This research supports that social robots, even if limited in their gazing capabilities, can be effectively perceived as social entities. Additionally, this research suggests that robotic social cues, usually validated with young participants, might be less optimal signs for older adults. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12369-022-00926-6.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas Morillo-Mendez
- Centre for Applied Autonomous Sensor Systems, Örebro University, Fakultetsgatan 1, Örebro, 702 81 Sweden
| | | | - Amy Loutfi
- Centre for Applied Autonomous Sensor Systems, Örebro University, Fakultetsgatan 1, Örebro, 702 81 Sweden
| | - Oscar Martinez Mozos
- Centre for Applied Autonomous Sensor Systems, Örebro University, Fakultetsgatan 1, Örebro, 702 81 Sweden
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Jackson CD, Seymour KK. Holistic processing of gaze cues during interocular suppression. Sci Rep 2022; 12:7717. [PMID: 35546346 PMCID: PMC9095640 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-11927-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2021] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Direct eye contact is preferentially processed over averted gaze and has been shown to gain privileged access to conscious awareness during interocular suppression. This advantage might be driven by local features associated with direct gaze, such as the amount of visible sclera. Alternatively, a holistic representation of gaze direction, which depends on the integration of head and eye information, might drive the effects. Resolving this question is interesting because it speaks to whether the processing of higher-level social information in the visual system, such as facial characteristics that rely on holistic processing, is dependent on conscious awareness. The Wollaston Illusion is a visual illusion that allows researchers to manipulate perceived gaze direction while keeping local eye features constant. Here we used this illusion to elucidate the driving factor facilitating the direct gaze advantage during interocular suppression. Using continuous flash suppression, we rendered Wollaston faces with direct and averted gaze (initially) invisible. These faces conveyed different gaze directions but contained identical eye regions. Our results showed clear evidence for a direct gaze advantage with Wollaston faces, indicating that holistic representations of gaze direction may drive the direct gaze advantage during interocular suppression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cooper D Jackson
- School of Psychology, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia
| | - Kiley K Seymour
- School of Psychology, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia. .,The MARCS Institute, Western Sydney University, Westmead, NSW, Australia. .,Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany.
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6
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Human face and gaze perception is highly context specific and involves bottom-up and top-down neural processing. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 132:304-323. [PMID: 34861296 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.11.042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2021] [Revised: 11/24/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
This review summarizes human perception and processing of face and gaze signals. Face and gaze signals are important means of non-verbal social communication. The review highlights that: (1) some evidence is available suggesting that the perception and processing of facial information starts in the prenatal period; (2) the perception and processing of face identity, expression and gaze direction is highly context specific, the effect of race and culture being a case in point. Culture affects by means of experiential shaping and social categorization the way in which information on face and gaze is collected and perceived; (3) face and gaze processing occurs in the so-called 'social brain'. Accumulating evidence suggests that the processing of facial identity, facial emotional expression and gaze involves two parallel and interacting pathways: a fast and crude subcortical route and a slower cortical pathway. The flow of information is bi-directional and includes bottom-up and top-down processing. The cortical networks particularly include the fusiform gyrus, superior temporal sulcus (STS), intraparietal sulcus, temporoparietal junction and medial prefrontal cortex.
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Colombatto C, van Buren B, Scholl BJ. Hidden intentions: Visual awareness prioritizes perceived attention even without eyes or faces. Cognition 2021; 217:104901. [PMID: 34592478 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2021] [Revised: 08/29/2021] [Accepted: 08/31/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Eye contact is a powerful social signal, and it readily captures attention. Recent work has suggested that direct gaze is prioritized even unconsciously: faces rendered invisible via interocular suppression enter awareness faster when they look directly at (vs. away from) you. Such effects may be driven in a relatively low level way by the special visual properties of eyes, per se, but here we asked whether they might instead arise from the perception of a deeper property: being the focus of another agent's attention and/or intentions. We report five experiments which collectively explore whether visual awareness also prioritizes distinctly non-eye-like stimuli that nevertheless convey directedness. We first showed that directed (vs. averted) 'mouth' shapes also break through into awareness faster, after being rendered invisible by continuous flash suppression - a direct 'gaze' effect without any eyes. But such effects could still be specific to faces (if not eyes), so we next asked whether the prioritization of directed intentions would still occur even for stimuli that have no faces at all. In fact, even simple geometric shapes can be seen as intentional, as when numerous randomly scattered cones are all consistently pointing at you. And indeed, even such directed (vs. averted) cones entered awareness faster - a direct 'gaze' effect without any facial cues. Additional control experiments ruled out effects of both symmetry and response biases. We conclude that the perception of directed intentions is sufficient to boost objects into awareness, and that putative eye-contact effects might instead reflect more general phenomena of 'mind contact'.
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How ubiquitous is the direct-gaze advantage? Evidence for an averted-gaze advantage in a gaze-discrimination task. Atten Percept Psychophys 2020; 83:215-237. [PMID: 33135097 PMCID: PMC7875945 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-020-02147-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Human eye gaze conveys an enormous amount of socially relevant information, and the rapid assessment of gaze direction is of particular relevance in order to adapt behavior accordingly. Specifically, previous research demonstrated evidence for an advantage of processing direct (vs. averted) gaze. The present study examined discrimination performance for gaze direction (direct vs. averted) under controlled presentation conditions: Using a backward-masking gaze-discrimination task, photographs of faces with direct and averted gaze were briefly presented, followed by a mask stimulus. Additionally, effects of facial context on gaze discrimination were assessed by either presenting gaze direction in isolation (i.e., by only showing the eye region) or in the context of an upright or inverted face. Across three experiments, we consistently observed a facial context effect with highest discrimination performance for faces presented in upright position, lower performance for inverted faces, and lowest performance for eyes presented in isolation. Additionally, averted gaze was generally responded to faster and with higher accuracy than direct gaze, indicating an averted-gaze advantage. Overall, the results suggest that direct gaze is not generally associated with processing advantages, thereby highlighting the important role of presentation conditions and task demands in gaze perception.
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Caruana N, Alhasan A, Wagner K, Kaplan DM, Woolgar A, McArthur G. The effect of non-communicative eye movements on joint attention. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2020; 73:2389-2402. [PMID: 32686988 PMCID: PMC7672778 DOI: 10.1177/1747021820945604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Eye movements provide important signals for joint attention. However, those eye movements that indicate bids for joint attention often occur among non-communicative eye movements. This study investigated the influence of these non-communicative eye movements on subsequent joint attention responsivity. Participants played an interactive game with an avatar which required both players to search for a visual target on a screen. The player who discovered the target used their eyes to initiate joint attention. We compared participants' saccadic reaction times (SRTs) to the avatar's joint attention bids when they were preceded by non-communicative eye movements that predicted the location of the target (Predictive Search), did not predict the location of the target (Random Search), and when there were no non-communicative eye gaze movements prior to joint attention (No Search). We also included a control condition in which participants completed the same task, but responded to a dynamic arrow stimulus instead of the avatar's eye movements. For both eye and arrow conditions, participants had slower SRTs in Random Search trials than No Search and Predictive Search trials. However, these effects were smaller for eyes than for arrows. These data suggest that joint attention responsivity for eyes is relatively stable to the presence and predictability of spatial information conveyed by non-communicative gaze. Contrastingly, random sequences of dynamic arrows had a much more disruptive impact on subsequent responsivity compared with predictive arrow sequences. This may reflect specialised social mechanisms and expertise for selectively responding to communicative eye gaze cues during dynamic interactions, which is likely facilitated by the integration of ostensive eye contact cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan Caruana
- Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Perception in Action Research Centre, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Ayeh Alhasan
- Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Kirilee Wagner
- Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - David M Kaplan
- Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Perception in Action Research Centre, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Alexandra Woolgar
- Perception in Action Research Centre, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Genevieve McArthur
- Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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10
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Niedźwiecka A. Look Me in the Eyes: Mechanisms Underlying the Eye Contact Effect. CHILD DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/cdep.12361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
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11
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Dalmaso M, Alessi G, Castelli L, Galfano G. Eye contact boosts the reflexive component of overt gaze following. Sci Rep 2020; 10:4777. [PMID: 32179802 PMCID: PMC7075930 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-61619-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2019] [Accepted: 02/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Establishing eye contact with an individual can subsequently lead to a stronger gaze-mediated orienting effect. However, studies exploring this phenomenon have, so far, only assessed manual responses and focused on covert attention - namely, without eye movements. Here, in two experiments, we explored for the first time whether eye contact can also impact on overt attention in an oculomotor task. This approach has two main advantages, in that it relies on more sensitive, online measures of attention allocation and it better mimics real life settings. Participants performed leftwards and rightwards eye movements in response to a central cue. Furthermore, a task-irrelevant central face established - or not - eye contact with the participant, and then averted its gaze either leftwards or rightwards. Hence, eye movement direction was either congruent or incongruent with that of the gaze stimulus. In both experiments, a gaze following behaviour emerged - specifically, smaller saccadic latencies and a greater accuracy emerged on congruent than on incongruent trials - but its magnitude was not modulated by eye contact. However, in Experiment 2 - in which the different eye contact conditions were presented intermixed rather than blocked, thus making eye contact contextually salient - eye contact led to an overall decrement of saccadic latencies and enhanced the reflexive component of gaze following. Taken together, these results provide novel evidence indicating that eye contact can impact on both eye movements programming and overt gaze following mechanisms, at least when eye contact is made contextually salient.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Dalmaso
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
| | - Giada Alessi
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Luigi Castelli
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Giovanni Galfano
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology University of Padova, Padova, Italy
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