Effects of Interpreting a Dynamic Geometric Cue as Gaze on Attention Allocation

Gaze is a powerful cue for directing attention. We investigate whether the interpretation of an abstract figure as gaze modulates its efficacy as attentional cue. In each trial, two vertical lines on a central disk moved to one side (left, right). Independent of this “feature-cued” side, a target (black disk) subsequently appeared on one side. After 300 trials (Phase 1), participants watched a video of a human avatar walking away. For one group, the avatar wore a helmet that visually matched the central disk and looked at black disks to either side. The other group’s video was unrelated to the cueing task. After another 300 trials (Phase 2), videos were swapped between groups; 300 further trials (Phase 3) followed. In all phases, participants responded more quickly for targets appearing on the feature-cued side. There was a significant interaction between Group and Phase for reaction times: in Phase 3, the group who had just watched the avatar with helmet, had a reduced advantage to the feature-cued side. Hence, interpreting the disk as turning head seen from behind counteracts the cueing by the disk’s motion. This suggests that the mere perceptual interpretation of an abstract stimulus as gaze yields social cueing effects.