Automatic spatial coding of perceived gaze direction is revealed by the Simon effect

In a typical Simon task, the (irrelevant) spatial position of the stimulus interferes with the processing of the salient characteristic (e.g., color). We used the Simon effect to investigate the automatic processing of gaze cues. We show that a simple drawing of schematic eyes automatically generates a spatially defined code of gaze direction. Although completely irrelevant to the task, direction of gaze influenced reaction times in a spatially selective two-choice discrimination based on eye color. Moreover, in one experiment employing an orthogonal manipulation of stimulus position and gaze direction, we found that coding of gaze direction is independent of stimulus spatial coding. Our finding of a “gazedirection Simon effect” is congruent with the hypothesis that gaze direction is coded by a specialized mechanism.

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

[2]  Saul Sternberg,et al.  The discovery of processing stages: Extensions of Donders' method , 1969 .

[3]  Claire O'Malley,et al.  Actions speak no louder than words: Symmetrical cross-modal interference effects in the processing of verbal and gestural information. , 1996 .

[4]  V. Bruce,et al.  You must see the point: automatic processing of cues to the direction of social attention. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[5]  M. Argyle,et al.  Gaze and Mutual Gaze , 1994, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[6]  T. Allison,et al.  Social perception from visual cues: role of the STS region , 2000, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[7]  M. Corbetta,et al.  Superior Parietal Cortex Activation During Spatial Attention Shifts and Visual Feature Conjunction , 1995, Science.

[8]  R. Desimone,et al.  Visual properties of neurons in a polysensory area in superior temporal sulcus of the macaque. , 1981, Journal of neurophysiology.

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

[10]  N. Fox,et al.  Social perception in infants , 1985 .

[11]  G. Butterworth,et al.  What minds have in common is space : Spatial mechanisms serving joint visual attention in infancy , 1991 .

[12]  Jon Driver,et al.  Adult's Eyes Trigger Shifts of Visual Attention in Human Infants , 1998 .

[13]  R. Proctor,et al.  The influence of irrelevant location information on performance: A review of the Simon and spatial Stroop effects , 1995, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[14]  S. Langton,et al.  The Mutual Influence of Gaze and Head Orientation in the Analysis of Social Attention Direction , 2000, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[15]  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.

[16]  J. Townsend,et al.  Varieties of Binocular Interaction in Human Vision , 1998 .

[17]  Mark H. Johnson,et al.  Gaze detection and the cortical processing of faces: Evidence from infants and adults , 1995 .

[18]  J. Tipples.  Eye gaze is not unique: Automatic orienting in response to uninformative arrows , 2002, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[19]  M. Zorzi,et al.  A computational model of the Simon effect , 1995, Psychological research.

[20]  V. Bruce,et al.  Do the eyes have it? Cues to the direction of social attention , 2000, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[21]  S. Baron-Cohen.  How to build a baby that can read minds: Cognitive mechanisms in mindreading. , 1994 .

[22]  J. Haxby,et al.  Distinct representations of eye gaze and identity in the distributed human neural system for face perception , 2000, Nature Neuroscience.

[23]  M. Zorzi,et al.  The role of long-term-memory and short-term-memory links in the Simon effect. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

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

[25]  C. Umilta,et al.  Face preference at birth. , 1996, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[26]  J. Decety,et al.  Brain Regions Involved in the Perception of Gaze: A PET Study , 1998, NeuroImage.

[27]  J. Pratt,et al.  Symbolic Control of Visual Attention , 2001, Psychological science.

[28]  S. Baron-Cohen,et al.  Is there an innate gaze module? Evidence from human neonates , 2000 .

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

[30]  J. Hietanen.  Does your gaze direction and head orientation shift my visual attention? , 1999, Neuroreport.

[31]  J R Simon,et al.  Effects of an irrelevant auditory stimulus on visual choice reaction time. , 1970, Journal of experimental psychology.

[32]  H. Masaki,et al.  An electrophysiological study of the locus of the interference effect in a stimulus-response compatibility paradigm. , 2000, Psychophysiology.

[33]  S. Sternberg.  The discovery of processing stages , 1969 .