How ubiquitous is the direct-gaze advantage? Evidence for an averted-gaze advantage in a gaze-discrimination task

authored by: Eva Riechelmann, Matthias Gamer, Anne Böckler, Lynn Huestegge
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.
Organisation(s): Institute of Psychology
External Organisation(s): Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg
Type: Article
Journal: Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics
Volume: 83
Pages: 215-237
No. of pages: 23
ISSN: 1943-3921
Publication date: 01.2021
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Language and Linguistics, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Sensory Systems, Linguistics and Language
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-020-02147-3 (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{14978ede05ae47d6a3cc596fc3a2f415,
title = "How ubiquitous is the direct-gaze advantage? Evidence for an averted-gaze advantage in a gaze-discrimination task",
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",
author = "Eva Riechelmann and Matthias Gamer and Anne B{\"o}ckler and Lynn Huestegge",
note = "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 ",
year = "2021",
month = jan,
doi = "10.3758/s13414-020-02147-3",
language = "English",
volume = "83",
pages = "215--237",
journal = "Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics",
issn = "1943-3921",
publisher = "Springer New York",
number = "1",
}