The importance of context information for the spatial specificity of gaze cueing
Wiese, E. and Zwickel, J. and Muller, Hermann J. (2013) The importance of context information for the spatial specificity of gaze cueing. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 75 , pp. 967-982. ISSN 1943-3921.
Abstract
In three experiments, we investigated the spatial allocation of attention in response to central gaze cues. In particular, we examined whether the allocation of attentional resources is influenced by context information—that is, the presence or absence of reference objects (i.e., placeholders) in the periphery. On each trial, gaze cues were followed by a target stimulus to which participants had to respond by keypress or by performing a target-directed saccade. Targets were presented either in an empty visual field (Exps. 1 and 2) or in previewed location placeholders (Exp. 3) and appeared at one of either 18 (Exp. 1) or six (Exps. 2 and 3) possible positions. The spatial distribution of attention was determined by comparing response times as a function of the distance between the cued and target positions. Gaze cueing was not specific to the exact cued position, but instead generalized equally to all positions in the cued hemifield, when no context information was provided. However, gaze direction induced a facilitation effect specific to the exact gazed-at position when reference objects were presented. We concluded that the presence of possible objects in the periphery to which gaze cues could refer is a prerequisite for attention shifts being specific to the gazed-at position.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | gaze cueing, top-down control, eye movements, spatial allocation of attention, psychophysics |
School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences |
Depositing User: | Sarah Hall |
Date Deposited: | 27 Oct 2015 13:06 |
Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:19 |
URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/13197 |
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