THE DETECTION OF GAZE DIRECTION - A STARE-IN-THE-CROWD EFFECT

A visual-search paradigm was used to explore the relative ease with wh ich the direction of gaze can be detected. Straight-gaze stimuli were presented as targets within a variable number of distracters with left -averted or right-averted gaze. Reaction time in this case was compare d with that when either the left-averted or right-averted gaze stimuli were the targets among distracters of the two remaining gaze directio ns. The data were examined for the existence of a search asymmetry fav oring the straight-gaze targets. Such an asymmetry was found with stim uli that were realistically drawn renditions of pairs of human eyes, a s well as with similar schematic stimuli representing pairs of human e yes. The asymmetry, however, was not found with geometric control stim uli, which also presented the critical feature in the central, the lef t-lateral, or the right-lateral position within the stimulus, but were not eyelike. It was also not found for schematic stimuli consisting o f only one eye. It was concluded that the straight gaze direction is a special stimulus with eyelike stimuli, which the visual system is set up to process faster and with fewer errors than averted gaze directio ns. The results are discussed in terms of the evolutionary significanc e of the straight gaze direction.