Beyond the moving hand: How gesture meaning shapes visual attention during observation and imitation

Gestures can convey communicative and socially relevant information, but it remains unclear whether their spatial direction relative to the body modulates visual attention. Previous findings suggest that gestures directed towards the body (TB) may be particularly relevant for socio-cognitive processing. The present study investigated whether gesture direction and meaning modulate visual attention to the face and hand during gesture observation and imitation. Sixty video clips depicted intransitive gestures, pantomimes, and meaningless gestures directed either TB or away from the body (AB). Twenty-five healthy participants first observed and subsequently imitated the gestures while their eye movements were recorded. Average fixation duration within the face and hand areas of interest was analysed using linear mixed models. Fixation duration was longer during observation than imitation and was influenced by gesture type, with intransitive gestures eliciting longer fixations than pantomimes and meaningless gestures. Overall, the face attracted longer fixations than the hand, particularly during meaningful gestures. Although fixation durations were descriptively longer for TB than AB gestures, the effect of direction did not reach statistical significance. These findings suggest that visual attention during gesture processing is primarily shaped by gesture meaning and task demands, while the contribution of gesture direction to overt visual attention remains to be established.