Dual route model of the effect of head orientation on perceived gaze direction
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1
The University of Sydney, School of Psychology, Australia
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2
Queen Mary University of London, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Psychology, United Kingdom
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3
MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, United Kingdom
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4
The University of Sydney, Australian Centre of Excellence in Vision Science, Australia
Background
Previous studies on gaze perception have revealed two opposing effects of head orientation (attractive vs. repulsive) on the perceived direction of gaze. For example, the demonstration by Wollaston (1824) shows that the perceived gaze direction of identical eyes is altered depending on the context of head orientation in such a manner that the perceived gaze direction is biased toward the head orientation (an attractive effect). On the other hand, several studies have reported that gaze direction is biased in the opposite direction to the head orientation (a repulsive effect, Anstis, Mayhew, & Morley, 1969; Gamer & Hecht 2007; Gibson & Pick, 1963). To date, the relationship between these two opposing effects has remained unclear.
Methods
Twenty naïve observers performed categorical judgement of perceived gaze direction (averted to the left/direct/averted to the right) in two image conditions: a Whole Head condition and an Eye Region condition. For each condition, we measured responses to 9 different eye deviations {-20°, -15°, -10°, -5°, 0°, 5°, 10°, 15°, 20°} in the context of 5 different head orientations {-30°, -15°, 0°, 15°, 30°}. This allowed us to evaluate the magnitude of the influence of head orientation on the perceived gaze direction in each condition.
Results
The measure of proportion of “direct” responses and points of subjectively direct gaze derived from the analysis of proportion of the left vs. right responses consistently showed that the perceived direction of gaze was generally biased in the opposite direction to the head orientation (a repulsive effect). Further, we found that the magnitude of the repulsive effect was reduced in the in the Whole Head condition compared to the Eye-Region condition, suggesting that head orientation itself has a direct influence on perceived gaze direction in a manner that attracts perceived gaze toward the head orientation.
Discussion
Based on these findings, we developed a dual-route model which proposes that the two opposing effects of head orientation occur through two distinct routes. The repulsive effect primarily depends on the change in the view of the eye region as the head is rotated. The attractive effect indicates that head orientation acts as a direct cue to the direction of gaze. In the framework of this dual-route model, we explain and reconcile the findings from previous studies, and provide a functional account of attractive and repulsive effects and their interaction.
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by Australian Research Council Discovery Project [DP120102589] to CC and AC, CC is supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship; AC is supported by the Medical Research Council, UK [MC_US_A060_5PQ50]
Keywords:
gaze perception,
Cue Combination,
head orientation,
Wollaston effect,
dual-route model
Conference:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, Clayton, Melbourne, Australia, 28 Nov - 1 Dec, 2013.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
Sensation and Perception
Citation:
Otsuka
Y,
Mareschal
I,
Calder
AJ and
Clifford
CW
(2013). Dual route model of the effect of head orientation on perceived gaze direction.
Conference Abstract:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.212.00062
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Received:
15 Oct 2013;
Published Online:
25 Nov 2013.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Yumiko Otsuka, The University of Sydney, School of Psychology, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia, yumikoot@gmail.com