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Social gaze cueing elicits facilitatory and inhibitory effects on movement execution when the model might act on an object

Michael Wang, Xiaoye; Karlinsky, April; Constable, Merryn; Gregory, Samantha; Welsh, Timothy

Social gaze cueing elicits facilitatory and inhibitory effects on movement execution when the model might act on an object Thumbnail


Authors

Xiaoye Michael Wang

April Karlinsky

Merryn Constable

Timothy Welsh



Abstract

Social cues, such as eye gaze and pointing fingers, can increase the prioritisation of specific locations for cognitive processing. A previous study using a manual reaching task showed that, although both gaze and pointing cues altered target prioritisation (reaction times [RTs]), only pointing cues affected action execution (trajectory deviations). These differential effects of gaze and pointing cues on action execution could be because the gaze cue was conveyed through a disembodied head; hence, the model lacked the potential for a body part (i.e., hands) to interact with the target. In the present study, the image of a male gaze model, whose gaze direction coincided with two potential target locations, was centrally presented. The model either had his arms and hands extended underneath the potential target locations, indicating the potential to act on the targets (Experiment 1), or had his arms crossed in front of his chest, indicating the absence of potential to act (Experiment 2). Participants reached to a target that followed a nonpredictive gaze cue at one of three stimulus onset asynchronies. RTs and reach trajectories of the movements to cued and uncued targets were analysed. RTs showed a facilitation effect for both experiments, whereas trajectory analysis revealed facilitatory and inhibitory effects, but only in Experiment 1 when the model could potentially act on the targets. The results of this study suggested that when the gaze model had the potential to interact with the cued target location, the model’s gaze affected not only target prioritisation but also movement execution.

Citation

Michael Wang, X., Karlinsky, A., Constable, M., Gregory, S., & Welsh, T. (2023). Social gaze cueing elicits facilitatory and inhibitory effects on movement execution when the model might act on an object. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218231162546

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 16, 2023
Online Publication Date Mar 31, 2023
Publication Date Mar 31, 2023
Deposit Date Dec 4, 2023
Publicly Available Date Dec 6, 2023
Journal Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Print ISSN 1747-0218
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218231162546

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