中国科学院心理研究所机构知识库

Eye gaze provides a type of crucial nonverbal cue that indicates other's focus of attention, and hence gives rise to unique social attention behaviors. In recent years, it has been demonstrated that eye gaze cues can exert influences on the cognitive processing of general objects (e.g., tools or symbols) and those with social significance (e.g., faces). Using a modified social attention task, researchers have found that eye gaze cues can influence sensory perceptual processing, the liking ratings, memory performance and other high-level cognitive processing of gazed-at objects. Furthermore, such modulation of gaze cues on object processing can be mediated by the attributes and amount of the faces as well as the pattern of gaze shifts. More importantly, this modulation effect can occur in the absence of visual awareness and is highly specific to eye gaze but not non-social cues (e.g., arrow). Research probing the underlying mechanisms implied that high-level social cognitive abilities (i.e., theory of mind, perspective taking) might play a key role in the observed modulation effect. Yet to date, the exact mechanisms mediating this modulation effect remain an important question for further investigations. Future efforts concerning the mechanisms underlying the influences of gaze cues on object processing will help to extend our understandings of social functioning and the interaction between human and environment, and have implications for both theory construction and practical application.