The gaze cueing effect involves the rapid orientation of attention to follow the gaze direction of another person. Previous studies reported reciprocal influences between social variables and the gaze cueing effect, with modulation of gaze cueing by social features of face stimuli and modulation of the observer’s social judgements from the validity of the gaze cues themselves. However, it remains unclear which social dimensions can affect—and be affected by—gaze cues. We used computer-averaged prototype face-like images with high and low levels of perceived trustworthiness and dominance to investigate the impact of these two fundamental social impression dimensions on the gaze cueing effect. Moreover, by varying the proportions of valid and invalid gaze cues across three experiments, we assessed whether gaze cueing influences observers’ impressions of dominance and trustworthiness through incidental learning. Bayesian statistical analyses provided clear evidence that the gaze cueing effect was not modulated by facial social trait impressions (Experiments 1–3). However, there was uncertain evidence of incidental learning of social evaluations following the gaze cueing task. A decrease in perceived trustworthiness for non-cooperative low dominance faces (Experiment 2) and an increase in dominance ratings for faces whose gaze behaviour contradicted expectations (Experiment 3) appeared, but further research is needed to clarify these effects. Thus, this study confirms that attentional shifts triggered by gaze direction involve a robust and relatively automatic process, which could nonetheless influence social impressions depending on perceived traits and the gaze behaviour of faces providing the cues.

Mattavelli, G., Romano, D., Young, A., Ricciardelli, P. (2021). The interplay between gaze cueing and facial trait impressions. THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, 74(9 (September 1, 2021)), 1642-1655 [10.1177/17470218211007791].

The interplay between gaze cueing and facial trait impressions

Mattavelli, Giulia
Primo
;
Romano, Daniele
Secondo
;
Ricciardelli, Paola
Ultimo
2021

Abstract

The gaze cueing effect involves the rapid orientation of attention to follow the gaze direction of another person. Previous studies reported reciprocal influences between social variables and the gaze cueing effect, with modulation of gaze cueing by social features of face stimuli and modulation of the observer’s social judgements from the validity of the gaze cues themselves. However, it remains unclear which social dimensions can affect—and be affected by—gaze cues. We used computer-averaged prototype face-like images with high and low levels of perceived trustworthiness and dominance to investigate the impact of these two fundamental social impression dimensions on the gaze cueing effect. Moreover, by varying the proportions of valid and invalid gaze cues across three experiments, we assessed whether gaze cueing influences observers’ impressions of dominance and trustworthiness through incidental learning. Bayesian statistical analyses provided clear evidence that the gaze cueing effect was not modulated by facial social trait impressions (Experiments 1–3). However, there was uncertain evidence of incidental learning of social evaluations following the gaze cueing task. A decrease in perceived trustworthiness for non-cooperative low dominance faces (Experiment 2) and an increase in dominance ratings for faces whose gaze behaviour contradicted expectations (Experiment 3) appeared, but further research is needed to clarify these effects. Thus, this study confirms that attentional shifts triggered by gaze direction involve a robust and relatively automatic process, which could nonetheless influence social impressions depending on perceived traits and the gaze behaviour of faces providing the cues.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
Gaze cueing effect, social traits, trustworthiness, dominance, incidental learning
English
22-mar-2021
2021
74
9 (September 1, 2021)
1642
1655
none
Mattavelli, G., Romano, D., Young, A., Ricciardelli, P. (2021). The interplay between gaze cueing and facial trait impressions. THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, 74(9 (September 1, 2021)), 1642-1655 [10.1177/17470218211007791].
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/310542
Citazioni
  • Scopus 2
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 2
Social impact