Social attention Flashcards
what is social attention?
attending to social information in our environment, related to gaze cueing
eye trackers
- desktop or mobile
- software records saccades, microsaccades, fixations, pupil dilation
- provides info on what captures attention, what we deem as important, an insight into underlying cog processes
What catches our attention the most in the social information of a scene?
faces, body parts
importance of social cues
- interacting with people is crucial to development
- social cues aid in learning key social skills
- evolutionary perspective: interpreting partner’s behaviour + understanding scenarios`
what happens when infants are exposed to chinese or english words either live or audio, and then tested in a few months on their chinese?
the infants exposed to chinese words live performed significantly better, showing learning process is enhanced by social interaction
what age do babies direct attention to the eyes?
within the first week of being born
at what age can babies follow gaze?
3 months
at what age can babies orient their attention to the location of the gaze?
12 months
what did the study find using 17 newborns and 3 pictures: a human, humanoid and a monster?
they fixated more on the face/eyes of the human model and less so on the humanoid. fixations random on monster. eyes capture attention
why are eyes important?
- human eyes have smaller dark areas so clearer eye movements seen, involved in communication
- gives insight to what our partners are paying attention to and helps us understand thought processes
- can predict what people will do next by what they’re looking at
what happens when the polarity of eyes is reversed?
it is more difficult to see what direction eyes were gazing in
EEG
- measures electrical signals generated by the brain through electrodes placed on scalp
- ERP is electrophysiological response to stimulus
- specific ERPs associated with certain stimuli e.g. N170
What does N170 process?
faces
greater and delayed to eyes suggesting different underlying processing
insights from fMRI
- there isn’t just one brain region implicated in social attention
- parts of the attention network, including areas implicated in goal-directed ad exogenous attention
which areas of the brain are responsible for eye contact and emotional responses to gaze?
amygdala/hippocampus
which areas of the brain are involved with facial identify recognition?
fusiform gyrus
which areas of the brain are involved in theory of mind processing?
medial prefrontal cortex, pSTS, TPJ
which areas of the brain are responsible for coding gaze direction?
temporal lobe
what did fMRI show about direct vs averted gaze?
- there was greater activation in fusiform gyrus for direct gaze
- eye tracking data results show greater attention to eyes + mouth with direct gaze
- direct gaze prepares for face-to-face communication
how did a live vs video interview influence gaze?
- averted gaze in live condition when beginning to answer question to reduce cognitive resources
- direct gaze indicates we are listening to social partners
- social norms - look when someone is talking to you
- more likely to direct gaze in live condition
what is gaze cueing?
- develops in infancy
- when we see someone move their gaze, we move our own to look at same location
- investigated using cueing paradigms
cueing paradigms
- ps are faster to detect target when in same location shown by gaze cue (valid trials)
- slower to detect target when it is in different location to that indicated by the gaze cue that is presented before the target (invalid trails)
- even when ps know the gaze, won’t predict where target will appear –> gaze cueing effect
real world implications of social attention and gaze cueing
- we direct our attention to important info in environment
- helps us plan our actions
- gives insight into others intentions
- reciprocal eye contact and attention to social info allows us to fit in as a member of a social group
what can affect social interaction?
- how we perceive others
- social context
- neurodevelopmental disorders e.g. autism
- neurological disorders e.g. prosopagnosia - inability to recognise faces
what is the effect of showing CVs and photos of people high or low status?
- larger gaze cueing effect for high status faces
- more likely to follow gaze of people we perceive as high social status
- guided by top-down cog processes as well as bottomup
how does social context affect social attention?
- we are less likely to look at someone walking close past you in real life compared to video
- someone far away fixated more in real life compared to video
- social norms mean you are less likely to stare at someone walking past in real life
how does autism affect social attention?
- pay less attention to eyes and more to mouths
- reduced attention to eyes, mouth and face of others
- look less at faces when people look directly at them
- they don’t show spontaneous gaze cueing
how does prosopagnosia affect social attention?
lack of gaze cueing effect at short durations with full face stimuli may be due to inability to process whole face at once –> delay attending to eyes
