I see what you’re saying: Voice signals influence children’s judgments of direct and averted gaze

Adults use gaze and voice signals as cues to the mental and emotional states of others. We examined the influence of voice cues on children’s judgments of gaze. In Experiment 1, 6-year-olds, 8-year-olds, and adults viewed photographs of faces fixating the center of the camera lens and a series of positions to the left and right and judged whether gaze was direct or averted. On each trial, participants heard the participant-directed voice cue (e.g., “I see you”), an object-directed voice cue (e.g., “I see that”), or no voice. In 6-year-olds, the range of directions of gaze leading to the perception of eye contact (the cone of gaze) was narrower for trials with object-directed voice cues than for trials with participant-directed voice cues or no voice. This effect was absent in 8-year-olds and adults, both of whom had a narrower cone of gaze than 6-year-olds. In Experiment 2, we investigated whether voice cues would influence adults’ judgments of gaze when the task was made more difficult by limiting the duration of exposure to the face. Adults’ cone of gaze was wider than in Experiment 1, and the effect of voice cues was similar to that observed in 6-year-olds in Experiment 1. Together, the results indicate that object-directed voice cues can decrease the width of the cone of gaze, allowing more adult-like judgments of gaze in young children, and that voice cues may be especially effective when the cone of gaze is wider because of immaturity (Experiment 1) or limited exposure (Experiment 2).     

Inattentive listening undermines self-verification in personal storytelling

Two studies explore the narrative construction of self-perceptions in conversational storytelling among pairs of same-sex friends. Specifically, the studies examined how listener behavior can support or undermine attempts to self-verify in personal storytelling. In two studies (n=100 dyads), speakers told attentive, distracted, or disagreeable (Study 1 only) friends about a recent experience. Distracted, but not disagreeable, friends tended to undermine participants' attempts to verify their self-perception of being interested in an activity (Study 1) or their self-perception that an event was typical for them (Study 2). These results support the notion that friends can be an important source of influence on self-perceptions and, perhaps surprisingly, suggest that responsiveness from friends, rather than agreement per se, may be crucial for supporting self-verification processes.     

Effects of direct and averted gaze on the perception of facially communicated emotion

Research has largely neglected the effects of gaze direction cues on the perception of facial expressions of emotion. It was hypothesized that when gaze direction matches the underlying behavioral intent (approach-avoidance) communicated by an emotional expression, the perception of that emotion would be enhanced (i.e., shared signal hypothesis). Specifically, the authors expected that (a) direct gaze would enhance the perception of approach-oriented emotions (anger and joy) and (b) averted eye gaze would enhance the perception of avoidance-oriented emotions (fear and sadness). Three studies supported this hypothesis. Study 1 examined emotional trait attributions made to neutral faces. Study 2 examined ratings of ambiguous facial blends of anger and fear. Study 3 examined the influence of gaze on the perception of highly prototypical expressions.     

Learning and limits of use of eye gaze by capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) in an object-choice task

The ability of 3 capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) to use experimenter-given cues to solve an object-choice task was assessed. The monkeys learned to use explicit gestural and postural cues and then progressed to using eye-gaze-only cues to solve the task, that is, to choose the baited 1 of 2 objects and thus obtain a food reward. Increasing cue-stimulus distance and introducing movement of the eyes impeded the establishment of effective eye-gaze reading. One monkey showed positive but imperfect transfer of use of eye gaze when a novel experimenter presented the cue. When head and eye orientation cues were presented simultaneously and in conflict, the monkeys showed greater responsiveness to head orientation cues. The results show that capuchin monkeys can learn to use eye gaze as a discriminative cue, but there was no-evidence for any underlying awareness of eye gaze as a cue to direction of attention.     

Is anyone looking at me? Direct gaze detection in children with and without autism

Atypical processing of eye contact is one of the significant characteristics of individuals with autism, but the mechanism underlying atypical direct gaze processing is still unclear. This study used a visual search paradigm to examine whether the facial context would affect direct gaze detection in children with autism. Participants were asked to detect target gazes presented among distracters with different gaze directions. The target gazes were either direct gaze or averted gaze, which were either presented alone (Experiment 1) or within facial context (Experiment 2). As with the typically developing children, the children with autism, were faster and more efficient to detect direct gaze than averted gaze, whether or not the eyes were presented alone or within faces. In addition, face inversion distorted efficient direct gaze detection in typically developing children, but not in children with autism. These results suggest that children with autism use featural information to detect direct gaze, whereas typically developing children use configural information to detect direct gaze.     

Does eye gaze indicate implicit knowledge of false belief? Charting transitions in knowledge

Three-year-olds sometimes look to the correct location but give an incorrect verbal answer in a false belief task. We examined whether correct eye gaze among 3- to 5-year-old children indexed unconscious knowledge or low confidence conscious knowledge. Children "bet" counters on where they thought a story character would go. If children were conscious of the knowledge conveyed by their eye gaze then they should have bet modestly on their explicit answer (i.e., been unsure whether this answer or the answer conveyed through eye direction was correct). We found that children bet very highly on the location consistent with their explicit answer, suggesting that they were not aware of the knowledge conveyed through their eye gaze. This result was supported by a number of conditions that showed that betting was a sensitive measure of even small degrees of uncertainty. The results shed light on false-belief understanding, the implicit-explicit distinction, and transitional knowledge. We argue that the transition to a full understanding of false belief is marked by periods of implicit knowledge and explicit understanding with low confidence.     

EFFECTS OF VIDEO MODELING ON TEACHING BIDS FOR JOINT ATTENTION TO CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of video modeling to teach children with autism to initiate bids for joint attention. The video model consisted of a child demonstrating three components of a bid for joint attention with an adult conversational partner: orienting toward the object, emitting a vocal statement, and eye gaze shift toward unique objects in the environment. Results indicated that video modeling alone was effective in teaching all components of joint attention for two of the three children, whereas video modeling plus in vivo prompting was effective for the third participant. Further, bids for joint attention did not generalize across novel items for any of the participants. Results are discussed in terms of the social relevance and validity of the use of video modeling to teach a complex social behavior such as bids for joint attention. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hand Gesture and Mathematics Learning: Lessons From an Avatar

A beneficial effect of gesture on learning has been demonstrated in multiple domains, including mathematics, science, and foreign language vocabulary. However, because gesture is known to co‐vary with other non‐verbal behaviors, including eye gaze and prosody along with face, lip, and body movements, it is possible the beneficial effect of gesture is instead attributable to these other behaviors. We used a computer‐generated animated pedagogical agent to control both verbal and non‐verbal behavior. Children viewed lessons on mathematical equivalence in which an avatar either gestured or did not gesture, while eye gaze, head position, and lip movements remained identical across gesture conditions. Children who observed the gesturing avatar learned more, and they solved problems more quickly. Moreover, those children who learned were more likely to transfer and generalize their knowledge. These findings provide converging evidence that gesture facilitates math learning, and they reveal the potential for using technology to study non‐verbal behavior in controlled experiments.     

自闭症谱系障碍儿童在多重线索下习得词语的眼动研究

本文利用眼动追踪技术在基线、一致和矛盾3种实验条件下考察感知觉线索和社会性线索在自闭症谱系障碍儿童词语习得中的相对作用。行为数据结果表明, 此类儿童在矛盾条件下选择枯燥物体作为新异词语的所指对象, 这说明社会性线索较之于感知觉线索具有优势作用; 而他们在基线和一致条件下选择有趣物体作为新异词语的所指对象, 且一致条件的词语习得成绩优于基线条件, 这说明社会性线索较之于感知觉线索具有促进作用。眼动数据结果表明, 此类儿童在脸部注视模式和视线追随行为上与普通儿童存在差异。这说明, 虽然社会性线索在此类儿童与普通儿童的词语习得中具有相同的相对作用, 但他们获取社会性信息的方式与普通儿童存在差异。     

Comparing Attention to Socially-Relevant Stimuli in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Developmental Coordination Disorder

Difficulties with social interaction have been reported in both children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD), although these disorders have very different diagnostic characteristics. To date, assessment of social skills in a DCD population has been limited to paper-based assessment or parent report. The present study employed eye tracking methodology to examine how children attend to socially-relevant stimuli, comparing 28 children with DCD, 28 children with ASD and 26 typically-developing (TD) age-matched controls (aged 7–10). Eye movements were recorded while children viewed 30 images, half of which were classed as ‘Individual’ (one person in the scene, direct gaze) and the other half were ‘Social’ (more naturalistic scenes showing an interaction). Children with ASD spent significantly less time looking at the face/eye regions in the images than TD children, but children with DCD performed between the ASD and TD groups in this respect. Children with DCD demonstrated a reduced tendency to follow gaze, in comparison to the ASD group. Our findings confirm that social atypicalities are present in both ASD and to a lesser extent DCD, but follow a different pattern. Future research would benefit from considering the developmental nature of the observed findings and their implications for support.     

Visual Attention in Real-World Conversation: Gaze Patterns Are Modulated by Communication and Group Size

Gaze behavior both initiates and maintains conversations, playing a crucial role in real-world collaboration. Hitherto, most findings on social attention stem from research using pictures of faces in the laboratory, however, attention operates differently in the real world. Thus, we know little of how gaze behavior operates in naturalistic interactions. To bridge this gap, we applied mobile eye-tracking to investigate the gaze patterns present in naturalistic conversations. Specifically, we examined gaze behavior of participants in a group of two or five, either sitting together in silence, or engaging in a conversation, in which they took turns either listening or speaking to each other. Results show that participants looked more frequently towards others when the group was communicating compared to when remaining silent, and that they looked at others more frequently when listening compared to when speaking. Furthermore, being part of a dyad led to more social attention being afforded during conversation compared to the group situation, regardless of whether subjects were listening or speaking. Meanwhile, when sitting in silence subjects showed less social gazing in a dyad than in a group of five. Our results provide qualitative and quantitative insights into the patterns of visual attention during dynamic naturalistic conversations.     

Intact and impaired mechanisms of action understanding in autism

Typically developing children understand and predict others' behavior by extracting and processing relevant information such as the logic of their actions within the situational constraints and the intentions conveyed by their gaze direction and emotional expressions. Children with autism have difficulties understanding and predicting others' actions. With the use of eye tracking and behavioral measures, we investigated action understanding mechanisms used by 18 children with autism and a well-matched group of 18 typically developing children. Results showed that children with autism (a) consider situational constraints in order to understand the logic of an agent's action and (b) show typical usage of the agent's emotional expressions to infer his or her intentions. We found (c) subtle atypicalities in the way children with autism respond to an agent's direct gaze and (d) marked impairments in their ability to attend to and interpret referential cues such as a head turn for understanding an agent's intentions.     

The role of eye‐gaze in understanding other minds

From an early age, infants are sensitive to eye‐gaze direction. This study examined Baron‐Cohen's (1994, 1995) claim that the ability to use eye‐gaze plays a crucial role in the child's developing understanding of other minds. Children aged 3 and 4 years participated in a face‐reading task, which assessed their capacity to infer mental states from a character's direction of eye‐gaze, and in a false‐belief task. As predicted, no child passed the false‐belief task without prior success on the face‐reading task. However, contrary to a central claim within Baron‐Cohen's model of mind‐reading, presentation of an eye‐gaze cue in the false‐belief task did not enhance children's performance. Furthermore, children did not solely rely on eye‐gaze as a cue, but used another directional cue (an arrow) in inferring a character's desire and intention. These results question the special role of eye‐gaze in the child's developing ability to mind‐read.     

INCREASING COMMUNICATIVE INTERACTIONS OF YOUNG CHILDREN WITH AUTISM USING A VOICE OUTPUT COMMUNICATION AID AND NATURALISTIC TEACHING

We evaluated the effects of a voice output communication aid (VOCA) and naturalistic teaching procedures on the communicative interactions of young children with autism. A teacher and three assistants were taught to use naturalistic teaching strategies to provide opportunities for VOCA use in the context of regularly occurring classroom routines. Naturalistic teaching procedures and VOCA use were introduced in multiple probe fashion across 4 children and two classroom routines (snack and play). As the procedures were implemented, all children showed increases in communicative interactions using VOCAs. Also, there was no apparent reductive effect of VOCA use within the naturalistic teaching paradigm on other communicative behaviors. Teachers' ratings of children's VOCA communication, as well as ratings of a person unfamiliar with the children, supported the contextual appropriateness of the VOCA. Probes likewise indicated that the children used the VOCAs for a variety of different messages including requests, yes and no responses, statements, and social comments. Results are discussed in regard to the potential benefits of a VOCA when combined with naturalistic teaching procedures. Future research needs are also discussed, focusing on more precise identification of the attributes of VOCA use for children with autism, as well as for their support personnel.     

双通路理论视角下孤独症谱系障碍者的视线加工障碍

临床行为观察发现, 孤独症谱系障碍个体普遍存在不能与他人建立视线接触, 不能追随他人视线看向目标物体等视线加工(gaze processing)障碍。然而已有实验研究发现该群体在实验情境中普遍存在视线接触(eye contact)异常, 但其视线追随行为(gaze following)则存在正常与异常并存的现象。基于视线加工双通路理论的启示, 该障碍可能是由于视线加工皮下通路先天功能异常而皮层通路后天发展异常所致。然而, 该理论尚缺乏皮下通路先天功能异常是视线接触障碍潜在神经机制的直接证据, 还需进一步考察皮下通路先天功能异常对视线追随障碍的影响作用, 以及皮层通路后天发展异常即其补偿机制的神经回路及早期形成过程。     

The Association of Children's Nonverbal Decoding Abilities With Their Popularity,Locus of Control,and Academic Achievement

The present study examined the relation between children's abilities to decode the emotional meanings in facial expressions and tones of voice, and their popularity, locus of control or reinforcement orientation, and academic achievement. Four hundred fifty-six elementary school children were given tests that measured their abilities to decode emotions in facial expressions and tones of voice. Children who were better at decoding nonverbal emotional information in faces and tones of voice were more popular, more likely to be internally controlled, and more likely to have higher academic achievement scores. The results were interpreted as supporting the importance of nonverbal communication in the academic as well as the social realms.     

Are you looking at me? Eye gaze and person perception

Previous research has highlighted the pivotal role played by gaze detection and interpretation in the development of social cognition. Extending work of this kind, the present research investigated the effects of eye gaze on basic aspects of the person–perception process, namely, person construal and the extraction of category–related knowledge from semantic memory. It was anticipated that gaze direction would moderate the efficiency of the mental operations through which these social–cognitive products are generated. Specifically, eye gaze was expected to influence both the speed with which targets could be categorized as men and women and the rate at which associated stereotypic material could be accessed from semantic memory. The results of two experiments supported these predictions: Targets with nondeviated (i.e., direct) eye gaze elicited facilitated categorical responses. The implications of these findings for recent treatments of person perception are considered.     

The development of Japanese mother–infant feeding interactions during the weaning period

During the weaning period, infants are not skilled at self-feeding and caregivers play a prominent role in feeding. Solid feeding is therefore an inherently collaborative and interactive process between infants and caregivers. The present study examined how caregivers and infants coordinate their solid feeding interactions, based on naturalistic longitudinal observations of three Japanese mother–infant dyads. The main results were as follows. Four or five months after weaning (about 10–11 months of age), children's mouth movements and mothers’ arm movements became more synchronized, and the success or failure of coordinated feeding became independent on children's gaze behavior. During this same period, both mothers’ and children's body movements accelerated. Specifically, children's food-intake motions and mothers’ food-carrying movements became faster together, although before 10–11 months fluctuations of these motions were not as correlated. Finally, at 9–11 months of age rhythmic body movements became frequent. From the first day of weaning, all three mothers swayed their bodies rhythmically while feeding, and about 2–3 months later their children also began to sway as they ate, at first infectiously but later spontaneously. These observations indicate how specific behavioral development contributes to mother–infant coordination in feeding.     

Best friends: children use mutual gaze to identify friendships in others

This study examined children's ability to use mutual eye gaze as a cue to friendships in others. In Experiment 1, following a discussion about friendship, 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds were shown animations in which three cartoon children looked at one another, and were told that one target character had a best friend. Although all age groups accurately detected the mutual gaze between the target and another character, only 5- and 6-year-olds used this cue to infer friendship. Experiment 2 replicated the effect with 5- and 6-year-olds when the target character was not explicitly identified. Finally, in Experiment 3, where the attribution of friendship could only be based on synchronized mutual gaze, 6-year-olds made this attribution, while 4- and 5-year-olds did not. Children occasionally referred to mutual eye gaze when asked to justify their responses in Experiments 2 and 3, but it was only by the age of 6 that reference to these cues correlated with the use of mutual gaze in judgements of affiliation. Although younger children detected mutual gaze, it was not until 6 years of age that children reliably detected and justified mutual gaze as a cue to friendship.