Uncovering everyday attention in the lab: front-viewed heads boost overt social orienting

Abstract

Abstract Social attention can be defined as the tendency to orient attentional resources in response to spatial cues provided by others, such as their gaze or head direction. This mechanism is essential for navigating real-world environments, where rapidly and accurately interpreting others’ behaviour is often critical. Regarding head-driven orienting, research studies suggest that social attention can be enhanced when a front-facing head cue establishes eye contact (vs. no eye contact) with the observer, but also when the head cue is viewed from behind (vs. from the front), and hence, eye contact cannot be established. Across three experiments, we directly compared these two scenarios—which are highly common in everyday life—by presenting a central head cue showing either the front (establishing eye contact) or back, followed by a turn to the left or right. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were required to manually respond to peripheral targets while ignoring the head cue, whereas in Experiment 3, oculomotor responses were recorded. Although the initial view of the head did not affect manual responses, eye movement data revealed enhanced social attention when the head was initially viewed from the front. These results suggest that eye movements provide a sensitive measure for detecting potential social modulations of attention. Moreover, eye contact confirms here its role as a powerful social signal for humans, capable of boosting overt orienting responses. Future research should explore these effects in more dynamic and ecologically valid settings, such as real social interactions.

Keywords

• Everyday social interactions
• Social attention
• Head turn
• Eye contact
• Social cognition