Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 215-237 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics |
| Volume | 83 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 1 Nov 2020 |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2021 |
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.
Keywords
- Averted gaze, Direct gaze, Gaze discrimination, Gaze processing, Social cognition
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Arts and Humanities(all)
- Language and Linguistics
- Psychology(all)
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience(all)
- Sensory Systems
- Social Sciences(all)
- Linguistics and Language
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In: Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, Vol. 83, No. 1, 01.2021, p. 215-237.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - How ubiquitous is the direct-gaze advantage? Evidence for an averted-gaze advantage in a gaze-discrimination task
AU - Riechelmann, Eva
AU - Gamer, Matthias
AU - Böckler, Anne
AU - Huestegge, Lynn
N1 - Funding Information: Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. This research was funded by grants of the German Research Foundation to LH (HU 1847/7-1). Acknowledgements Open practices statement
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Averted gaze
KW - Direct gaze
KW - Gaze discrimination
KW - Gaze processing
KW - Social cognition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85094823016&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3758/s13414-020-02147-3
DO - 10.3758/s13414-020-02147-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 33135097
AN - SCOPUS:85094823016
VL - 83
SP - 215
EP - 237
JO - Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics
JF - Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics
SN - 1943-3921
IS - 1
ER -