How precise is gaze following in humans?
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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Gaze in Action: Head-mounted Eye Tracking of Children's Dynamic Visual Attention During Naturalistic Behavior
Published on: November 14, 2018
Simon W Bock1, Peter Dicke, Peter Thier
1Department of Cognitive Neurology, Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. sbock@uni-tuebingen.de
Abstract:
Gaze following is the basis of joint visual attention. We investigated the capability of human 'receivers' to single out one of many objects, defined by the gaze of a human or computer 'sender'. Deviations from the sender's target were normally distributed and judgements were highly accurate. Accuracy of gaze following under binocular and monocular vision of the receiver did not differ, but performance was poorer when only one of the sender's eyes was visible. Two types of systematic bias could be identified: upward bias and cardinal-axis bias. In summary, human gaze following is not only very precise but also surprisingly robust to manipulations of the sender cues available for guiding the receiver's eyes.

