Gaze deflection reveals how gaze cueing is tuned to extract the mind behind the eyes

Abstract

We report an empirical study of gaze deflection—a common experience in which you turn to look in a different direction when someone “catches” you staring at them. We show that gaze cueing (the automatic orienting of attention to locations at which others are looking) is far weaker for such displays, even when the actual eye and head movements are identical to more typical intentional gazes. This demonstrates how gaze cueing is driven by the perception of minds, not eyes, and it serves as a case study of both how social dynamics can shape visual attention in a sophisticated manner and how vision science can contribute to our understanding of common social phenomena.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Aug 05, 2020
Source ID
10.1073/pnas.2010841117

Entities

People

  • Brian J. Scholl
  • Clara Colombatto
  • Yi-Chia Chen

Organizations

  • Harvard University
  • Office of Naval Research Global
  • Yale University

Tags

Readers

  • Systems Analysis and Design
  • Vision Science/Vision Psychology/Cognitive Neuroscience.