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Perception of the Potential for Interaction in Social Scenes.
Roy S Hessels1, Jeroen S Benjamins2, Andrea J van Doorn1
1Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
I-Perception
|September 30, 2021
Summary
Humans quickly understand social cues from images, with behavior dictating their response, not distance. This perception of social interaction is immediate and context-dependent.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Perception
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Urban environments present frequent social interaction opportunities.
- Understanding immediate social cue perception is crucial for human-robot interaction and social robotics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how humans perceive invitations to interact from images at a glance.
- To determine the influence of depicted behavior and camera-actor distance on interaction perception.
Main Methods:
- Participants viewed images of actors exhibiting various behaviors at different distances.
- Responses included self-reported actions, decision-making processes, and perceived interaction likelihood.
Main Results:
- Participant actions were determined by the depicted behavior, irrespective of distance.
- Perceived likelihood of interaction depended on both behavior and camera-actor distance.
Conclusions:
- Humans rapidly grasp the 'gist' of social scenes from images.
- Actor, action, and context cues are immediately available for subjective interpretation.
- Findings have implications for scene perception, social robotics, and intercultural studies.
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