When a look means nothing: contextual interpretation abolishes the Gaze Cueing Effect
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In a world overloaded with sensory input, organisms use spatial attention to selectively process the most relevant information. For a highly social species like humans, one influential attentional cue is the direction of other people’s gaze: by perceiving where others look and following their gaze, observers can increase their chances of detecting important information. This well-established phenomenon, called the gaze cueing effect (GCE), is traditionally considered reflexive. However, gaze-shifts do not always indicate external attention; they can also occur for other reasons, such as when attention is shifted inwards during effortful cognitive processing. The ability of observers to interpret the eye movements of other people correctly, while dissociating inwards and outwards attention shifts, is critical for efficient management of their attentional resources.
In this study, we examined the role of context on the interpretation of other people’s gaze. Across two preregistered experiments (total N =110), participants viewed gaze-shifts while performing a perceptual task. One group was primed to interpret gaze-shifts as reflecting inward attention deployment during cognitive effort, while the other was not provided with an interpretive context. The results revealed that GCE was reduced when gaze-shifts were perceived as linked to cognitive effort rather than external attention, indicating that attentional responses to gaze cues are context-dependent rather than purely reflexive. These findings highlight the flexibility of social attention, revealing that higher-order cognitive interpretation can override well-established attentional mechanisms. With its interdisciplinary approach, reexamining attentional processes in light of social cognition, this study offers new perspectives on the multifaceted socio-cognitive mind.
Significance statement
In a world overflowing with sensory input, our attention is a limited resource which must be allocated efficiently. One way we manage this is by attending to locations where other people look, assuming their gaze points to something important. This study shows this mechanism of attention shift is not automatic. Instead, individuals interpret what the eye movements reflect and modulate their attention shifts accordingly. When observers believed that a person was thinking rather than looking at something meaningful, they were less likely to shift their attention in the same direction. These findings challenge the long-standing idea that humans reflexively follow others’ gaze and reveal that our attention is guided not just by where people look, but by what we think is happening in their minds. This insight has real-world implications for improving communication, education, and the design of socially aware technologies like virtual assistants or classroom tools.
