Scanpath estimation based on foveated image saliency

The estimation of gaze shift has been an important research area in saliency modeling. Gaze movement is a dynamic progress, yet existing estimation methods are limited to estimating scanpaths within only one saliency map, providing results with unsatisfactory accuracy. A bio-inspired method for gaze shift prediction is thus proposed. We take the effect of foveation into account in the proposed model, which plays an important role in the search for dynamic salient regions. The saccadic bias of gaze shifts and the mechanism of inhibition of return in short-term memory are also considered. Based on the probability map derived from these factors, candidates for the next fixation can be randomly generated, and the final scanpath can be acquired point by point. By the evaluation of objective measures, experimental results show that this method possesses better performance in several datasets than many existing models do.     

Visual representation of eye gaze is coded by a nonopponent multichannel system

To date, there is no functional account of the visual perception of gaze in humans. Previous work has demonstrated that left gaze and right gaze are represented by separate mechanisms. However, these data are consistent with either a multichannel system comprising separate channels for distinct gaze directions (e.g., left, direct, and right) or an opponent-coding system in which all gaze directions are coded by just 2 pools of cells, one coding left gaze and the other right, with direct gaze represented as a neutral point reflecting equal activation of both left and right pools. In 2 experiments, the authors used adaptation procedures to investigate which of these models provides the optimal account. Both experiments supported multichannel coding. Previous research has shown that facial identity is coded by an opponent-coding system; hence, these results also demonstrate that gaze is coded by a different representational system to facial identity.     

Effects of peripheral eccentricity and head orientation on gaze discrimination

Visual search tasks support a special role for direct gaze in human cognition, while classic gaze judgement tasks suggest the congruency between head orientation and gaze direction plays a central role in gaze perception. Moreover, whether gaze direction can be accurately discriminated in the periphery using covert attention is unknown. In the present study, individual faces in frontal and in deviated head orientations with a direct or an averted gaze were flashed for 150 ms across the visual field; participants focused on a centred fixation while judging the gaze direction. Gaze discrimination speed and accuracy varied with head orientation and eccentricity. The limit of accurate gaze discrimination was less than ±6° eccentricity. Response times suggested a processing facilitation for direct gaze in fovea, irrespective of head orientation, however, by ±3° eccentricity, head orientation started biasing gaze judgements, and this bias increased with eccentricity. Results also suggested a special processing of frontal heads with direct gaze in central vision, rather than a general congruency effect between eye and head cues. Thus, while both head and eye cues contribute to gaze discrimination, their role differs with eccentricity.     

Are you looking at me? Measuring the cone of gaze

The processing of gaze cues plays an important role in social interactions, and mutual gaze in particular is relevant for natural as well as video-mediated communications. Mutual gaze occurs when an observer looks at or in the direction of the eyes of another person. The authors chose the metaphor of a cone of gaze to characterize this range of gaze directions that constitutes "looking at" another person. In 4 experiments using either a real person or a virtual head, the authors investigated the influences of observer distance, head orientation, visibility of the eyes, and the presence of a 2nd head on the perceived direction and width of the gaze cone. The direction of the gaze cone was largely affected by all experimental manipulations, whereas its angular width remained comparatively stable.     

When observing gaze shifts of others enhances object desirability

The present research explored when observing gaze shifts of another person, involving both the observer and a specific object, enhances desirability of the gazed-at object. Specifically, we offer an initial attempt to test the idea that a three-step sequence consisting of direct gaze at the observer, followed by object-directed gaze and then by direct gaze at the observer, cues the desirability of an object to the observer and hence increases the perceived desirability of the gazed-at object. We examined this hypothesis in three experiments by manipulating eye-gaze shifts and including a no-gaze control condition. In line with our prediction, results showed that the dynamic sequence of gaze shifts indeed increases perceived object desirability. These findings provide new evidence that a sequence of gaze behavior involving the observer and an object plays an important role in influencing affective evaluation of objects.     

Luminance-induced shift in the apparent direction of gaze

Changing the luminance of one side of the sclera induces an apparent shift of the perceived direction of gaze toward the darker side of the sclera. This luminance-induced gaze shift was measured in photographic and schematic images of eyes. The effect was substantial: a moderate darkening of one side of the sclera induced an apparent shift of 8 to 10 deg of gaze; the maximum darkening induced a shift of 15 deg of gaze or more. The effect of scleral darkening was also compared to the gaze shift induced by an actual shift of the iris. The effects of the two cues were measured independently and in combination. When pitted against each other, their effects could be nulled, demonstrating that they act on a common level. Predictions of the relative strengths of the luminance and iris shift cues were developed for two simple luminance-based mechanisms: flux ratio and luminance centroid. The data showed the luminance cue was less effective than the models predicted in determining gaze direction. As an alternative source for the gaze shift, irradiation effects on apparent size could create a perceived shift in the iris position but a direct measure of the irradiation shift showed that this was far too small. The results suggest that at least one important mechanism for gaze judgment is based on low-level analysis of the luminance configuration within the eye.     

Talking heads or talking eyes? Effects of head orientation and sudden onset gaze cues on attention capture

The direction of gaze towards or away from an observer has immediate effects on attentional processing in the observer. Previous research indicates that faces with direct gaze are processed more efficiently than faces with averted gaze. We recently reported additional processing advantages for faces that suddenly adopt direct gaze (abruptly shift from averted to direct gaze) relative to static direct gaze (always in direct gaze), sudden averted gaze (abruptly shift from direct to averted gaze), and static averted gaze (always in averted gaze). Because changes in gaze orientation in previous study co-occurred with changes in head orientation, it was not clear if the effect is contingent on face or eye processing, or whether it requires both the eyes and the face to provide consistent information. The present study delineates the impact of head orientation, sudden onset motion cues, and gaze cues. Participants completed a target-detection task in which head position remained in a static averted or direct orientation while sudden onset motion and eye gaze cues were manipulated within each trial. The results indicate a sudden direct gaze advantage that resulted from the additive role of motion and gaze cues. Interestingly, the orientation of the face towards or away from the observer did not influence the sudden direct gaze effect, suggesting that eye gaze cues, not face orientation cues, are critical for the sudden direct gaze effect.     

When strangers pass: processing of mutual and averted social gaze in the superior temporal sulcus

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated brain activity evoked by mutual and averted gaze in a compelling and commonly experienced social encounter. Through virtual-reality goggles, subjects viewed a man who walked toward them and shifted his neutral gaze either toward (mutual gaze) or away (averted gaze) from them. Robust activity was evoked in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) and fusiform gyrus (FFG). For both conditions, STS activity was strongly right lateralized. Mutual gaze evoked greater activity in the STS than did averted gaze, whereas the FFG responded equivalently to mutual and averted gaze. Thus, we show that the STS is involved in processing social information conveyed by shifts in gaze within an overtly social context. This study extends understanding of the role of the STS in social cognition and social perception by demonstrating that it is highly sensitive to the context in which a human action occurs.     

Perceiving crowd attention: Gaze following in human crowds with conflicting cues

People automatically redirect their visual attention by following others’ gaze orientation, a phenomenon called “gaze following.” This is an evolutionarily generated socio-cognitive process that provides people with information about their environments. Often, however, people in crowds can have rather different gaze orientations. This study investigated how gaze following occurs in situations with many conflicting gazes. In two experiments, we modified the gaze cueing paradigm to use a crowd rather than a single individual. Specifically, participants were presented with a group of human avatars with differing gaze orientations, and the target appeared randomly on the left or right side of a display. We found that (a) when a marked difference existed in the number of avatars with divergent gaze orientations, participants automatically followed the majority’s gaze orientation, and (b) the strongest gaze cue effect occurred when all gazes shared the same orientation, with the response superiority of the majority’s oriented location monotonically diminishing with the number of gazes with divergent orientations. These findings suggested that the majority rule plays a role in gaze following behavior when individuals are confronted with conflicting multigaze scenes, and that an increasing subgroup size appears to enlarge the strength of the gaze cueing effect.     

Electrophysiological responses in mothers to their own and unfamiliar child's gaze information

An attachment bond between a mother and her child is one of the most intimate human relationships. It is important for a mother to be sensitive to her child's gaze direction because exchanging gaze information plays a vital role in their relationship. Furthermore, recent studies have revealed differential neural activation patterns in mothers when presented the faces of their own children or the unfamiliar child of other people. Based on these findings, in the present study, we investigated whether mothers show differential neural responses to gaze information of their own child compared to that of an unfamiliar child. To this end, event-related-potentials elicited by the faces of one's own or an unfamiliar child with straight or averted gaze directions were measured using an oddball-paradigm. The results showed that peak amplitudes of the N170 component were enlarged by viewing the straight gazes compared to the averted gazes of one's own child, but not of an unfamiliar child. When the gaze was directed straight, the P3 amplitude elicited by one's own child's face is smaller than that elicited by an unfamiliar child's face. P3s elicited in viewing one's own child's face with averted gaze and in viewing an unfamiliar child's face with straight gaze were positively correlated with state-anxiety. These results bolster the hypothesis that processing the gaze information of one's own child elicits differential neural activation compared to the gaze information of an other person's unfamiliar child at both perceptual and evaluative stages of face processing.     

寻求者的注视方向对建议者建议提出的影响

基于信号理论, 研究采用3个依次递进的实验, 分别以大学生群体和在职员工为被试, 探讨了建议寻求者的注视方向对建议者建议提出意愿的影响。结果发现：(1)当建议寻求者的注视方向为正视时, 能够促进建议者提出建议的意愿, 建议者感知到的角色期待在其中起到了中介作用。(2)当建议者的拒绝敏感性高时, 寻求者的注视方向对建议提出意愿有显著影响; 当建议者的拒绝敏感性低时, 这种影响减弱或消失; 此外, 拒绝敏感性也调节了角色期待感知的中介效应。     

Intimacy in response to direct gaze

Believing that they were participating in a study of encounter groups, male and female subjects were encouraged to deliver a personally revealing monologue to a same-sex listener whose visual behavior had been “programmed” by the experimenter. In the four experimental conditions, designed to explore the role of gaze as a stimulus, as a potential reinforcer, and as a source of feedback, the listener provided (a) continuous direct gaze; (b) direct gaze contingent upon intimate statements; (c) continuous gaze aversion; or (d) gaze aversion contingent upon intimate statements. The intimacy of the speaker's monologue was rated by a “blind” observer, the listener, and the speaker himself. Direct gaze, whether constant or contingent, appeared to promote intimacy between females and reticence between males, while gaze avoidance had the opposite effects. The only raters who disagreed with this assessment were the male speakers, who felt that they had been most intimate in the two direct gaze conditions. Positive feelings including liking for the listener and task satisfaction also were associated both with self-revelation and with direct gaze among females but not among males.     

The role of gaze and road edge information during high-speed locomotion

Robust control of skilled actions requires the flexible combination of multiple sources of information. Here we examined the role of gaze during high-speed locomotor steering and in particular the role of feedback from the visible road edges. Participants were required to maintain one of three lateral positions on the road when one or both edges were degraded (either by fading or removing them). Steering became increasingly impaired as road edge information was degraded, with gaze being predominantly directed toward the required road position. When either of the road edges were removed, we observed systematic shifts in steering and gaze direction dependent upon both the required road position and the visible edge. A second experiment required fixation on the road center or beyond the road edges. The results showed that the direction of gaze led to predictable steering biases, which increased as road edge information became degraded. A new steering model demonstrates that the direction of gaze and both road edges influence steering in a manner consistent with the flexible weighted combination of near road feedback information and prospective gaze information.     

Is attention necessary for perceiving gaze direction? It depends on how you look at it: Evidence from the locus-of-slack method

Several researchers have studied how we process and perceive gaze direction. However, it is still unclear at which perceptual stage of gaze processing (encoding or/and categorization), attention is required to judge gaze direction. We report a study in which we manipulated the difficulty of gaze perceptual judgements (easy vs. difficult) and used the locus-of-slack method to test the role of different types of attention (spatial and central) in the encoding and categorization of gaze direction. In Experiment 1 we used the spatial cueing paradigm to investigate if gaze direction judgements can be carried out while spatial attention is diverted. In Experiment 2 we used the psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm to determine whether judgement of gaze direction involves central attention processes. The findings demonstrate that gaze judgements require input attention (both for the encoding and categorization stage) but not central attention. The implications of the results are discussed.     

Effects of head orientation on gaze perception: How positive congruency effects can be reversed

Several past studies have considered how perceived head orientation may be combined with perceived gaze direction in judging where someone else is attending. In three experiments we tested the impact of different sources of information by examining the role of head orientation in gaze-direction judgements when presenting: (a) the whole face; (b) the face with the nose masked; (c) just the eye region, removing all other head-orientation cues apart from some visible part of the nose; or (d) just the eyes, with all parts of the nose masked and no head orientation cues present other than those within the eyes themselves. We also varied time pressure on gaze direction judgements. The results showed that gaze judgements were not solely driven by the eye region. Gaze perception can also be affected by parts of the head and face, but in a manner that depends on the time constraints for gaze direction judgements. While “positive” congruency effects were found with time pressure (i.e., faster left/right judgements of seen gaze when the seen head deviated towards the same side as that gaze), the opposite applied without time pressure.     

Gaze direction and the extraction of egocentric distance

The angular declination of a target with respect to eye level is known to be an important cue to egocentric distance when objects are viewed or can be assumed to be resting on the ground. When targets are fixated, angular declination and the direction of the gaze with respect to eye level have the same objective value. However, any situation that limits the time available to shift gaze could leave to-be-localized objects outside the fovea, and, in these cases, the objective values would differ. Nevertheless, angular declination and gaze declination are often conflated, and the role for retinal eccentricity in egocentric distance judgments is unknown. We report two experiments demonstrating that gaze declination is sufficient to support judgments of distance, even when extraretinal signals are all that are provided by the stimulus and task environment. Additional experiments showed no accuracy costs for extrafoveally viewed targets and no systematic impact of foveal or peripheral biases, although a drop in precision was observed for the most retinally eccentric targets. The results demonstrate the remarkable utility of target direction, relative to eye level, for judging distance (signaled by angular declination and/or gaze declination) and are consonant with the idea that detection of the target is sufficient to capitalize on the angular declination of floor-level targets (regardless of the direction of gaze).     

Importance of head movements in gaze tracking during table tennis forehand stroke

The purpose of this study was to clarify the properties of gaze and head movements during forehand stroke in table tennis. Collegiate table tennis players (n = 12) conducted forehand strokes toward a ball launched by a skilled experimenter. A total of ten trials were conducted for the experimental task. Horizontal and vertical movements of the ball, gaze, head and eye were analyzed from the image recorded by an eye tracking device. The results showed that participants did not always keep their gaze and head position on the ball throughout the entire ball path. Our results indicate that table tennis players tend to gaze at the ball in the initial ball-tracking phase. Furthermore, there was a significant negative correlation between eye and head position especially in the vertical direction. This result suggests that horizontal VOR is suppressed more than vertical VOR in ball-tracking during table tennis forehand stroke. Finally, multiple regression analysis showed that the effect of head position to gaze position was significantly higher than that of eye position. This result indicates that gaze position during forehand stroke could be associated with head position rather than eye position. Taken together, head movements may play an important role in maintaining the ball in a constant egocentric direction in table tennis forehand stroke.     

Effects of head orientation on gaze perception: how positive congruency effects can be reversed

Several past studies have considered how perceived head orientation may be combined with perceived gaze direction in judging where someone else is attending. In three experiments we tested the impact of different sources of information by examining the role of head orientation in gaze-direction judgements when presenting: (a) the whole face; (b) the face with the nose masked; (c) just the eye region, removing all other head-orientation cues apart from some visible part of the nose; or (d) just the eyes, with all parts of the nose masked and no head orientation cues present other than those within the eyes themselves. We also varied time pressure on gaze direction judgements. The results showed that gaze judgements were not solely driven by the eye region. Gaze perception can also be affected by parts of the head and face, but in a manner that depends on the time constraints for gaze direction judgements. While “positive” congruency effects were found with time pressure (i.e., faster left/right judgements of seen gaze when the seen head deviated towards the same side as that gaze), the opposite applied without time pressure.     

Exploiting Listener Gaze to Improve Situated Communication in Dynamic Virtual Environments

Beyond the observation that both speakers and listeners rapidly inspect the visual targets of referring expressions, it has been argued that such gaze may constitute part of the communicative signal. In this study, we investigate whether a speaker may, in principle, exploit listener gaze to improve communicative success. In the context of a virtual environment where listeners follow computer‐generated instructions, we provide two kinds of support for this claim. First, we show that listener gaze provides a reliable real‐time index of understanding even in dynamic and complex environments, and on a per‐utterance basis. Second, we show that a language generation system that uses listener gaze to provide rapid feedback improves overall task performance in comparison with two systems that do not use gaze. Aside from demonstrating the utility of listener gaze in situated communication, our findings open the door to new methods for developing and evaluating multi‐modal models of situated interaction.     

Network approaches for expert decisions in sports

This paper focuses on a model comparison to explain choices based on gaze behavior via simulation procedures. We tested two classes of models, a parallel constraint satisfaction (PCS) artificial neuronal network model and an accumulator model in a handball decision-making task from a lab experiment. Both models predict action in an option-generation task in which options can be chosen from the perspective of a playmaker in handball (i.e., passing to another player or shooting at the goal). Model simulations are based on a dataset of generated options together with gaze behavior measurements from 74 expert handball players for 22 pieces of video footage. We implemented both classes of models as deterministic vs. probabilistic models including and excluding fitted parameters. Results indicated that both classes of models can fit and predict participants' initially generated options based on gaze behavior data, and that overall, the classes of models performed about equally well. Early fixations were thereby particularly predictive for choices. We conclude that the analyses of complex environments via network approaches can be successfully applied to the field of experts' decision making in sports and provide perspectives for further theoretical developments.