Averted eye-gaze disrupts configural face encoding

Social perception of robots is shaped by beliefs about their minds

Roboticists often imbue robots with human-like physical features to increase the likelihood that they are afforded benefits known to be associated with anthropomorphism. Similarly, deepfakes often employ computer-generated human faces to attempt to create convincing simulacra of actual humans. In the present work, we investigate whether perceivers' higher-order beliefs about faces (i.e., whether they represent actual people or android robots) modulate the extent to which perceivers deploy face-typical processing for social stimuli. Past work has shown that perceivers' recognition performance is more impacted by the inversion of faces than objects, thus highlighting that faces are processed holistically (i.e., as Gestalt), whereas objects engage feature-based processing. Here, we use an inversion task to examine whether face-typical processing is attenuated when actual human faces are labeled as non-human (i.e., android robot). This allows us to employ a task shown to be differentially sensitive to social (i.e., faces) and non-social (i.e., objects) stimuli while also randomly assigning face stimuli to seem real or fake. The results show smaller inversion effects when face stimuli were believed to represent android robots compared to when they were believed to represent humans. This suggests that robots strongly resembling humans may still fail to be perceived as "social" due pre-existing beliefs about their mechanistic nature. Theoretical and practical implications of this research are discussed.

Looking at the upper facial half enlarges the range of holistic face processing

Previous studies suggested that upper and lower facial halves might be involved in the human holistic face processing differently. In this study, we replicated and extended the finding above. In Experiment 1, we used the standard composite-face task to measure holistic face processing when participants made judgements on the upper and lower facial halves separately. Results showed that the composite-face effect was stronger for the upper facial half compared to the lower half. In Experiment 2, we investigated how facial information was integrated when participants focused on different features, using the perceptual field paradigm. Results showed that: (1) more "peripheral faces" were chosen when participants fixated at the eyes than when they fixated at the mouth; (2) less "peripheral faces" were chosen for inverted faces regardless of the fixated features. Findings from both experiments together indicate that more peripheral facial information were integrated when participants focused on the upper facial half, highlighting the significance of focusing on the upper facial half in face processing.

Robots engage face-processing less strongly than humans

Robot faces often differ from human faces in terms of their facial features (e.g., lack of eyebrows) and spatial relationships between these features (e.g., disproportionately large eyes), which can influence the degree to which social brain [i.e., Fusiform Face Area (FFA), Superior Temporal Sulcus (STS); Haxby et al., 2000] areas process them as social individuals that can be discriminated from other agents in terms of their perceptual features and person attributes. Of interest in this work is whether robot stimuli are processed in a less social manner than human stimuli. If true, this could undermine human-robot interactions (HRIs) because human partners could potentially fail to perceive robots as individual agents with unique features and capabilities-a phenomenon known as outgroup homogeneity-potentially leading to miscalibration of trust and errors in allocation of task responsibilities. In this experiment, we use the face inversion paradigm (as a proxy for neural activation in social brain areas) to examine whether face processing differs between human and robot face stimuli: if robot faces are perceived as less face-like than human-faces, the difference in recognition performance for faces presented upright compared to upside down (i.e., inversion effect) should be less pronounced for robot faces than human faces. The results demonstrate a reduced face inversion effect with robot vs. human faces, supporting the hypothesis that robot faces are processed in a less face-like manner. This suggests that roboticists should attend carefully to the design of robot faces and evaluate them based on their ability to engage face-typical processes. Specific design recommendations on how to accomplish this goal are provided in the discussion.

The evolution of shame and its display

The shame system appears to be natural selection's solution to the adaptive problem of information-triggered reputational damage. Over evolutionary time, this problem would have led to a coordinated set of adaptations - the shame system - designed to minimise the spread of negative information about the self and the likelihood and costs of being socially devalued by others. This information threat theory of shame can account for much of what we know about shame and generate precise predictions. Here, we analyse the behavioural configuration that people adopt stereotypically when ashamed - slumped posture, downward head tilt, gaze avoidance, inhibition of speech - in light of shame's hypothesised function. This behavioural configuration may have differentially favoured its own replication by (a) hampering the transfer of information (e.g. diminishing audiences' tendency to attend to or encode identifying information - shame camouflage) and/or (b) evoking less severe devaluative responses from audiences (shame display). The shame display hypothesis has received considerable attention and empirical support, whereas the shame camouflage hypothesis has to our knowledge not been advanced or tested. We elaborate on this hypothesis and suggest directions for future research on the shame pose.

Impact of perceived interpersonal similarity on attention to the eyes of same-race and other-race faces

One reason for the persistence of racial discrimination may be anticipated dissimilarity with racial outgroup members that prevent meaningful interactions. In the present research, we investigated whether perceived similarity would impact the processing of same-race and other-race faces. Specifically, in two experiments, we varied the extent to which White participants were ostensibly similar to targets via bogus feedback on a personality test. With an eye tracker, we measured the effect of this manipulation on attention to the eyes, a critical region for person perception and face memory. In Experiment 1, we monitored the impact of perceived interpersonal similarity on White participants’ attention to the eyes of same-race White targets. In Experiment 2, we replicated this procedure, but White participants were presented with either same-race White targets or other-race Black targets in a between-subjects design. The pattern of results in both experiments indicated a positive linear effect of similarity—greater perceived similarity between participants and targets predicted more attention to the eyes of White and Black faces. The implications of these findings related to top-down effects of perceived similarity for our understanding of basic processes in face perception, as well as intergroup relations, are discussed.

Dissociable effects of averted "gaze" on the priming of bodily representations and motor actions

Gaze direction is an important stimulus that signals key details about social (dis)engagement and objects in our physical environment. Here, we explore how gaze direction influences the perceiver's processing of bodily information. Specifically, we examined how averted versus direct gaze modifies the operation of effector-centered representations (i.e., specific fingers) versus movement-centered representations (i.e., finger actions). Study 1 used a stimulus-response compatibility paradigm that tested the priming of a relevant effector or relevant movement, after observing videos of direct or averted gaze. We found a selective priming of relevant effectors, but only after averted gaze videos. Study 2 found similar priming effects with symbolic direction cues (averted arrows). Study 3 found that averted gaze cues do not influence generic spatial compatibility effects, and thus, are specific to body representations. In sum, this research suggests that both human and symbolic averted cues selectively prime relevant body-part representations, highlighting the dynamic interplay between our bodies, minds, and environments.

How We Perceive Others Resembling Us

Eye contact is essential for social cognition, acting as an important tool for social communication. While differences in face scanning patterns concerning familiarity have been thoroughly investigated, the impact of facial similarity on gaze behavior has not been examined yet. We addressed this topic by recording subjects' eye-directed gazing while looking at faces that were individually created systematically varying in terms of similarity to the self-face and familiarity. Subjects' self-faces were morphed into three other faces including a close friend of the same sex. Afterwards, they rated similarity to their self-face of those morphed face stimuli in a separate rating task. Our results show a general preference for the eyes' area as well as differences regarding fixation patterns depending on similarity to the self-face. The lower the similarity to the self-face, the more fixations on the eyes' area. Subjects' ratings followed a linear line, indicating well-pronounced face perception. Nevertheless, other faces were rated faster than the self-face independent of familiarity, while morphed faces got the slowest ratings. Our results mirror the importance of similarity to the self-face as a factor shaping the way we look at the eyes of others explaining variance apart from familiarity.

The Eyes Are the Windows to the Mind: Direct Eye Gaze Triggers the Ascription of Others' Minds

Eye gaze is a potent source of social information with direct eye gaze signaling the desire to approach and averted eye gaze signaling avoidance. In the current work, we proposed that eye gaze signals whether or not to impute minds into others. Across four studies, we manipulated targets' eye gaze (i.e., direct vs. averted eye gaze) and measured explicit mind ascriptions (Study 1a, Study 1b, and Study 2) and beliefs about the likelihood of targets having mind (Study 3). In all four studies, we find novel evidence that the ascription of sophisticated humanlike minds to others is signaled by the display of direct eye gaze relative to averted eye gaze. Moreover, we provide evidence suggesting that this differential mentalization is due, at least in part, to beliefs that direct gaze targets are more likely to instigate social interaction. In short, eye contact triggers mind perception.

The Face of Humanity

Across three studies, we test the hypothesis that the perceived “humanness” of a human face can have its roots, in part, in low-level, feature-integration processes typical of normal face perception—configural face processing. We provide novel evidence that perceptions of humanness/dehumanization can have perceptual roots. Relying on the well-established face inversion paradigm, we demonstrate that disruptions of configural face processing also disrupt the ability of human faces to activate concepts related to humanness (Experiment 1), disrupt categorization of human faces as human (but not animal faces as animals; Experiment 2), and reduce the levels of humanlike traits and characteristics ascribed to faces (Experiment 3). Taken together, the current findings provide a novel demonstration that dehumanized responses can arise from bottom-up perceptual cues, which suggests novel causes and consequences of dehumanizing responses.