Abstract
Extant literature indicates that averted eye-gaze cues orient spatial attention. Despite the ease with which
gaze-triggered shifts of attention occur, however, there remain important questions about the automaticity
of one’s response to averted gaze. The aim of the present study is to investigate this aforementioned
issue by determining whether shifts of attention to eye-gaze cues can occur when the cues are masked.
While we find that unmasked eye-gaze cues are effective in producing a validity effect in a central cueing
paradigm, we also find that the efficacy of masked eye-gaze cues is sharply constrained by experimental
context. Specifically, masked eye-gaze cues only produced a validity effect when they appeared in the
context of predictive unmasked eye-gaze cues. Unmasked eye-gaze cues, in contrast, produced validity
effects across a range of experimental contexts, including when 80% of the cues were invalid. These
findings demonstrate that, unlike unmasked eye-gaze cues, the effective processing of masked eye-gaze
cues is volitional.
gaze-triggered shifts of attention occur, however, there remain important questions about the automaticity
of one’s response to averted gaze. The aim of the present study is to investigate this aforementioned
issue by determining whether shifts of attention to eye-gaze cues can occur when the cues are masked.
While we find that unmasked eye-gaze cues are effective in producing a validity effect in a central cueing
paradigm, we also find that the efficacy of masked eye-gaze cues is sharply constrained by experimental
context. Specifically, masked eye-gaze cues only produced a validity effect when they appeared in the
context of predictive unmasked eye-gaze cues. Unmasked eye-gaze cues, in contrast, produced validity
effects across a range of experimental contexts, including when 80% of the cues were invalid. These
findings demonstrate that, unlike unmasked eye-gaze cues, the effective processing of masked eye-gaze
cues is volitional.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 27-27 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Journal | Perception |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue number | 1 supplement |
| Publication status | Published - 2012 |
| Event | 35th European Conference on Visual Perception - Alghero, Italy Duration: 2 Sept 2012 → 6 Sept 2012 |