Eye gaze adaptation under interocular suppression. 2012

Timo Stein, and Marius V Peelen, and Philipp Sterzer
Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy. timo.stein@bccn-berlin.de

The perception of eye gaze is central to social interaction in that it provides information about another person's goals, intentions, and focus of attention. Direction of gaze has been found to reflexively shift the observer's attention in the corresponding direction, and prolonged exposure to averted eye gaze adapts the visual system, biasing perception of subsequent gaze in the direction opposite to the adapting face. Here, we tested the role of conscious awareness in coding eye gaze directions. To this end, we measured aftereffects induced by adapting faces with different eye gaze directions that were presented during continuous flash suppression, a potent interocular suppression technique. In some trials the adapting face was rendered fully invisible, whereas in others it became partially visible. In Experiment 1, the adapting and test faces were presented in identical sizes and to the same eye. Even fully invisible faces were capable of inducing significant eye gaze aftereffects, although these were smaller than aftereffects from partially visible faces. When the adapting and test faces were shown to different eyes in Experiment 2, significant eye gaze aftereffects were still observed for the fully invisible faces, thus showing interocular transfer. Experiment 3 disrupted the spatial correspondence between adapting and test faces by introducing a size change. Under these conditions, aftereffects were restricted to partially visible adapting faces. These results were replicated in Experiment 4 using a blocked adaptation design. Together, these findings indicate that size-dependent low-level components of eye gaze can be represented without awareness, whereas object-centered higher-level representations of eye gaze directions depend on visual awareness.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D010364 Pattern Recognition, Visual Mental process to visually perceive a critical number of facts (the pattern), such as characters, shapes, displays, or designs. Recognition, Visual Pattern,Visual Pattern Recognition
D010775 Photic Stimulation Investigative technique commonly used during ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY in which a series of bright light flashes or visual patterns are used to elicit brain activity. Stimulation, Photic,Visual Stimulation,Photic Stimulations,Stimulation, Visual,Stimulations, Photic,Stimulations, Visual,Visual Stimulations
D004192 Discrimination, Psychological Differential response to different stimuli. Discrimination, Psychology,Psychological Discrimination
D005123 Eye The organ of sight constituting a pair of globular organs made up of a three-layered roughly spherical structure specialized for receiving and responding to light. Eyes
D005145 Face The anterior portion of the head that includes the skin, muscles, and structures of the forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, and jaw. Faces
D005260 Female Females
D005366 Figural Aftereffect A perceptual phenomenon used by Gestalt psychologists to demonstrate that events in one part of the perceptual field may affect perception in another part. Aftereffect, Figural,Aftereffects, Figural,Figural Aftereffects
D005403 Fixation, Ocular Positioning and accommodation of eyes that allows the image to be brought into place on the FOVEA CENTRALIS of each eye. Focusing, Ocular,Ocular Fixation,Eye Gaze,Eye Gazes,Gaze, Eye,Gazes, Eye,Ocular Focusing
D005556 Form Perception The sensory discrimination of a pattern, shape, or outline. Contour Perception,Contour Perceptions,Form Perceptions,Perception, Contour,Perception, Form,Perceptions, Contour,Perceptions, Form

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