Inspiring Robots: Developmental trajectories of gaze following in humans

Abstract

The ability to respond to gaze cueing is essential for successful social interactions and social learning. An active area of research in human robot interactions (HRI) focuses on the computational encoding of biologically realistic gaze cueing responses in robots. Studies of human development are a primary source of guidance for this field of research. The investigation of how perceived gazes constrain the developmental trajectories of visual attention in humans from childhood to adulthood might reveal important factors to implement realistic gaze following in social robots. This study investigated spontaneous gaze following in 2 and 4-year-old children and adults. Participants saw faces of an adult gazing toward an object. We found that accuracy of gaze following improved significantly with age. The results are discussed considering the development of the executive control of visual attention in humans and its possible implication in implementing gaze following in social robotics.

Keywords

• gaze following
• eye tracking
• visual attention
• social robotics
• developmental trajectories