Mitsuda + Masaki SUBLIMINAL GAZE cues increase preference

Question 1

What is Gaze-evoked shift of attention?

Answer 1

○ The tendency of people to follow the gaze of another individual
- Provides them important information such as location about what they are looking at
§ Tendency occurs when the gaze appears subliminally over a short period
So this tendency = reflexive = helps to detect risks/ events quickly

Question 2

What did Frischen, Bayliss, & Tipper, 2007 find about the speed at which people seem to be able to detect a target that is in the direction of another individual’s gaze vs own opposite direction?

Answer 2

People seem to be able to detect a target that is in the direction of another individual’s gaze faster VS own opposite direction

Question 3

What evidence is there suggesting Another person’s gaze affects both the observers attention + preferences of the items being looked at?

Answer 3

Bayliss, Paul, Cannon + Tipper (2006)

- preference level for an item in another’s gaze direction was significantly > vs item presented in opposite direction

Question 4

What was the aim of the study?

Answer 4

find out if subliminal gaze cues also affect

• the preference levels for items in the gaze direction
• in addition to gaining their attention
• help to understand whether the underlying mechanism of subliminal gaze cue is
• reflexive VS higher-level cognitive process which operates consciously

Question 5

What is the mere exposure effect?

Answer 5

• Familiarity = bias
• Subliminal mere exposure effect:
  Preferences are changed without any conscious awareness in response to subliminal visual stimuli -
  ○ Bronstein, Leone, & Galley, 1987:
• Repetitive subliminal exposure to an item increases the preference level for that item

Question 6

What other factors need to be considered when looking at subliminal mere exposure effect?

Answer 6

○ Effect depends on obersver’s task context, habits, desires

Question 7

An increased observation may be due to what alternative experimental conditions other than other people’s gaze?

Answer 7

§ Trustworthiness
§ Facial expression
□ Even when gaze cues appear subliminally, facial expression affect the observer's attention (Bailey et al, 2014)
§ Attractiveness
§ Gender
§ Number of gaze senders

Question 8

What potential explanation is there for why there is a lack of paper reporting the role of subliminal gaze cues?

Answer 8

due to the dominating influence of the facial expression and the minor role subliminal gaze cues are thought to have

Question 9

Why did the study use attractive smiling female faces?

Answer 9

1. Bayliss, di Pellegrino, and Tipper, 2005:
   - people responded more quickly to targets that are gazed at by female faces VS male
2. Mitsuda + Yamamoto, 2015
   - increase in preference lvls for items that were gazed was greater when gazer was female REGARDLESS of the gender of the observer
3. More attractive faces
4. Happy faces

Question 10

What was the procedure of the study?

Answer 10

1. counter balancing
   1/2 = preference evaluation task T1
   1/2 = Target detection task T2
2. Task 3
   ○ Informed about subliminal gaze-cue stimuli
   ○ Responded to survey about whether they has noticed the subliminal presentation of gaze cues during data collection
   T3 then same survey again

Question 11

What were the results of the study?

Answer 11

T1: The preference level for figures that were gazed at was significantly greater than that of figure that were looked away from
T2: The response time to targets that were gazed at was significantly shorter than that of items that were looked away from
T3: No ppt reported that they had noticed a face w/ a gaze cue interleaved with the mask image before or after the recording of the gaze detection task

Question 12

What were some limitations of the study?

Answer 12

1. Serially presenting the face w/ a straight gaze + same face with averted gaze may = enhanced perception of gaze direction
   Gaze is the only difference between the supraliminal face + subliminal face
2. Prior knowledge of the face might have affected subliminal perception
3. Subliminal gaze cue interleaved w/ mask images repeated 5 time in a trial
   Number of presentations of a gaze cue could change the magnitude of the effect
4. May need to consider individual difference in sensitivity to subliminal gaze cues
   - Gender differences might exist in the effect of subliminal gaze cues on preference levels, in addition to the effect of supraliminal gaze cues

Question 13

What evidence is there showing attentional shift + preference increase by gaze cue are based on different cognitive processes?

Answer 13

Bayliss et al, 2006
- shift of attention is caused not only when a gaze cue appears BUT also when an arrow marker appears
§ Arrow marker = not increase in preference lvl for item to which it directs attentions
§ Indicating = mechanism for attentional shift in response to gaze cues + arrow markers may differ from the mechanism for preference increase in response to gaze cues

Question 14

What is the difference between supraliminal and subliminal faces?

Answer 14

• Subliminal = you are not consciously aware of the face

- Supraliminal = you are consciously aware of the face

Question 15

Why do the authors think that people respond reflexively to another’s gaze?

Answer 15

• Provides them important information such as location about what the other person is looking at
  Helps to detect risks/ events quickly

Question 16

Explain the target detection task. (T2)

Answer 16

§ They were shown a picture of the lady looking forward then after a set amount of time, a subliminal gaze cue was presented along with a circular mark
§ The ppt are they are to report the position of the mark ASAP

Question 17

How did the gaze detection task differ from task 1?

Answer 17

• Instead of a circular mark used in T2, several non-sense figures were presented in T1 that remained through out the trial
  The change would be the alternation between the subliminal and the mask