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Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Gaze in Action: Head-mounted Eye Tracking of Children's Dynamic Visual Attention During Naturalistic Behavior
Published on: November 14, 2018
Objects capture perceived gaze direction
Janek S Lobmaier1, Martin H Fischer, Adrian Schwaninger
1Department of Psychology, University of Zürich, Switzerland. j.lobmaier@psychologie.unizh.ch
Abstract:
The interpretation of another person's eye gaze is a key element of social cognition. Previous research has established that this ability develops early in life and is influenced by the person's head orientation, as well as local features of the person's eyes. Here we show that the presence of objects in the attended space also has an impact on gaze interpretation. Eleven normal adults identified the fixation points of photographed faces with a mouse cursor. Their responses were systematically biased toward the locations of nearby objects. This capture of perceived gaze direction probably reflects the attribution of intentionality and has methodological implications for research on gaze perception.
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