Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-6 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics |
| Volume | 83 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Abstract
Focusing attention is a key cognitive skill, but how the gaze of others affects engaged attention remains relatively unknown. We investigated if participants’ attentional bias toward a location is modulated by the number of people gazing toward or away from it. We presented participants with a nonpredictive directional cue that biased attention towards a specific location. Then, any number of four stimulus faces turned their gaze toward or away from the attended location. When all the faces looked at the attended location participants increased their commitment to it, and response time to targets at that location were speeded. When most or all of the faces looked away from the attended location, attention was withdrawn, and response times were slowed. This study reveals that the gaze of others can penetrate one’s ability to focus attention, which in turn can be both beneficial and costly to one's responses to events in the environment.
Keywords
- Attentional cuing, Gaze cuing, Group attention, Multi-agent contexts, Social attention
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
Cite this
- Standard
- Harvard
- Apa
- Vancouver
- BibTeX
- RIS
In: Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, Vol. 83, No. 1, 01.2021, p. 1-6.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Prior attentional bias is modulated by social gaze
AU - Capozzi, Francesca
AU - Wahn, Basil
AU - Ristic, Jelena
AU - Kingstone, Alan
N1 - Funding information: This work was supported by a Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) research fellowship awarded to BW, a SSHRC Insight Development Grant to FC and JR, a SSHRC Insight Grant and NSERC Discovery Grant to JR and AK, and a William Dawson fund to JR. Many thanks to Daniil Vasilyev for his help with data collection.
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - Focusing attention is a key cognitive skill, but how the gaze of others affects engaged attention remains relatively unknown. We investigated if participants’ attentional bias toward a location is modulated by the number of people gazing toward or away from it. We presented participants with a nonpredictive directional cue that biased attention towards a specific location. Then, any number of four stimulus faces turned their gaze toward or away from the attended location. When all the faces looked at the attended location participants increased their commitment to it, and response time to targets at that location were speeded. When most or all of the faces looked away from the attended location, attention was withdrawn, and response times were slowed. This study reveals that the gaze of others can penetrate one’s ability to focus attention, which in turn can be both beneficial and costly to one's responses to events in the environment.
AB - Focusing attention is a key cognitive skill, but how the gaze of others affects engaged attention remains relatively unknown. We investigated if participants’ attentional bias toward a location is modulated by the number of people gazing toward or away from it. We presented participants with a nonpredictive directional cue that biased attention towards a specific location. Then, any number of four stimulus faces turned their gaze toward or away from the attended location. When all the faces looked at the attended location participants increased their commitment to it, and response time to targets at that location were speeded. When most or all of the faces looked away from the attended location, attention was withdrawn, and response times were slowed. This study reveals that the gaze of others can penetrate one’s ability to focus attention, which in turn can be both beneficial and costly to one's responses to events in the environment.
KW - Attentional cuing
KW - Gaze cuing
KW - Group attention
KW - Multi-agent contexts
KW - Social attention
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096429024&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3758/s13414-020-02194-w
DO - 10.3758/s13414-020-02194-w
M3 - Article
C2 - 33230733
AN - SCOPUS:85096429024
VL - 83
SP - 1
EP - 6
JO - Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics
JF - Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics
SN - 1943-3921
IS - 1
ER -