Task-dependent effects of social attention on saccadic reaction times

Previous research has shown that saccadic reaction times (SRTs) are shorter when a stimulus is flashed on the same side as the observed gaze direction of another individual. The gaze imitation hypothesis contends that observed gaze evokes the preparation of a saccade toward the same direction. Previous studies of this phenomenon have employed pro-saccade tasks in which the instructed saccade is directed toward the stimulus. In agreement with previous findings, we found that SRTs on pro-saccade trials were shorter when the stimulus appeared in the same direction as observed gaze. Here we also included anti-saccade trials in which subjects were required to look-away from a stimulus and toward its mirror position in the opposite visual field. The gaze imitation hypothesis predicts that subjects will have shorter SRTs on anti-saccade trials in which the stimulus appears opposite the observed gaze direction because they will have prepared already a saccade in that direction. However, contrary to the prediction of the gaze imitation hypothesis, we found that subjects had shorter SRTs on anti-saccade trials when the stimulus appeared in the same direction as observed gaze. Moreover, subjects also made more pro-saccade errors on anti-saccade trials in which the stimulus was presented opposite the observed gaze direction. The results of our study indicate that subjects prepared a saccade in the same direction as observed gaze on pro-saccade trials but opposite the observed gaze direction on anti-saccade trials. These findings suggest that the effect of social gaze cues on SRTs is task dependent.

[1]  A. J. Mistlin,et al.  Visual cells in the temporal cortex sensitive to face view and gaze direction , 1985, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences.

[2]  M. Posner,et al.  Orienting of Attention* , 1980, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[3]  A. Cowey,et al.  The role of the 'face-cell' area in the discrimination and recognition of faces by monkeys. , 1992, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[4]  Alan Kingstone,et al.  The eyes have it!: An fMRI investigation , 2004, Brain and Cognition.

[5]  M. Gazzaniga,et al.  Reflexive Joint Attention Depends on Lateralized Cortical Connections , 2000, Psychological science.

[6]  A. Cowey,et al.  Sensitivity to eye gaze in prosopagnosic patients and monkeys with superior temporal sulcus ablation , 1990, Neuropsychologia.

[7]  A. Kingstone,et al.  The eyes have it! Reflexive orienting is triggered by nonpredictive gaze , 1998 .

[8]  D. Munoz,et al.  Look away: the anti-saccade task and the voluntary control of eye movement , 2004, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[9]  Stefan Everling,et al.  Rule-dependent Activity for Prosaccades and Antisaccades in the Primate Prefrontal Cortex , 2005, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[10]  E. Miller,et al.  An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function. , 2001, Annual review of neuroscience.

[11]  S. Baron-Cohen,et al.  Gaze Perception Triggers Reflexive Visuospatial Orienting , 1999 .

[12]  M. Platt,et al.  Reflexive Social Attention in Monkeys and Humans , 2003, Current Biology.

[13]  D. Munoz,et al.  Reflex suppression in the anti-saccade task is dependent on prestimulus neural processes. , 1998, Journal of neurophysiology.

[14]  Alan Kingstone,et al.  Does gaze direction really trigger a reflexive shift of spatial attention? , 2005, Brain and Cognition.

[15]  Michael Tomasello,et al.  All great ape species follow gaze to distant locations and around barriers. , 2005, Journal of comparative psychology.

[16]  L. Chelazzi,et al.  My eyes want to look where your eyes are looking: Exploring the tendency to imitate another individual's gaze , 2002, Neuroreport.

[17]  P. E. Hallett,et al.  Primary and secondary saccades to goals defined by instructions , 1978, Vision Research.

[18]  V. Bruce,et al.  Reflexive visual orienting in response to the social attention of others , 1999 .

[19]  M. Harries,et al.  Visual Processing of Faces in Temporal Cortex: Physiological Evidence for a Modular Organization and Possible Anatomical Correlates , 1991, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[20]  Matthew Rizzo,et al.  Eye gaze does not produce reflexive shifts of attention: Evidence from frontal-lobe damage , 2006, Neuropsychologia.

[21]  D P Munoz,et al.  Neuronal Correlates for Preparatory Set Associated with Pro-Saccades and Anti-Saccades in the Primate Frontal Eye Field , 2000, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[22]  A. Kingstone,et al.  Are eyes special? It depends on how you look at it , 2002, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[23]  D P Munoz,et al.  Role of Primate Superior Colliculus in Preparation and Execution of Anti-Saccades and Pro-Saccades , 1999, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[24]  Hisao Nishijo,et al.  Differential characteristics of face neuron responses within the anterior superior temporal sulcus of macaques. , 2005, Journal of neurophysiology.

[25]  Alan Kingstone,et al.  Attentional effects of counterpredictive gaze and arrow cues. , 2004, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[26]  Ravi S. Menon,et al.  Preparatory set associated with pro-saccades and anti-saccades in humans investigated with event-related FMRI. , 2003, Journal of neurophysiology.

[27]  P. E. Hallett,et al.  The predictability of saccadic latency in a novel voluntary oculomotor task , 1980, Vision Research.

[28]  J. Bullier,et al.  Topography of visual cortex connections with frontal eye field in macaque: convergence and segregation of processing streams , 1995, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.