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Orienting towards social features in naturalistic scenes is reflexive
Lara Rösler1, Albert End2, Matthias Gamer1,2
1Department of Psychology, Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Plos One
|July 26, 2017
Summary
Social features in images, like human depictions, capture attention rapidly, overriding basic visual saliency. This suggests a reflexive component to social attention, influencing how we process visual information.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Saliency-based models predict attention based on physical properties.
- Eye-tracking shows saliency models fail with social information, prioritizing human depictions.
- The reflexive vs. voluntary nature of social attention remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the early, reflexive stages of social attention.
- Determine if social features override low-level physical saliency in guiding gaze.
- Understand the role of social influences in attentional selection.
Main Methods:
- Participants viewed naturalistic scenes with/without social features for 200 ms.
- Eye movements were recorded during brief image presentations.
- Generalized linear mixed models analyzed gaze patterns and saliency.
Main Results:
- Significantly more first eye movements were directed to social features than expected by chance.
- Social content better predicted first saccade direction than physical saliency.
- Social features partially override the impact of low-level saliency on gaze.
Conclusions:
- Results provide compelling evidence for a reflexive component in social attention.
- Social influences are crucial for a comprehensive understanding of attentional selection.
- Human depictions are prioritized early in visual processing, independent of physical saliency.
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