动态直视更吸引注意:来自稳态视觉诱发电位的证据

Dynamic Direct Gaze Captures More Attention:Evidence from ssVEP

研究采用EEG技术,以ssVEP为指标,通过3个实验对直视是否比斜视更吸引注意及其影响因素进行了深入探讨。结果显示:仅在面孔直立条件下,斜视转直视诱发的ssVEP信噪比显著高于直视转斜视,且在注视方向静态呈现以及动态变化幅度减小的情况下直视与斜视在ssVEP信噪比上的差异消失。结论:直视更吸引注意,且直视在注意吸引上的优势主要跟其表达的社会信息相关,而非特征信息;注视方向呈现方式和动态变化幅度可能是直视捕获注意的关键因素。

As a non-verbal cue,gaze direction plays an important role in interpersonal communication.Previous studies have found that the information obtained from the direct gaze is processed faster and more accurate than that from averted gaze,which is called the advantage of direct gaze.So far,the mechanism of this phenomenon is still under debating.Some studies held the view that direct gaze attracts more attention,while others stood with the notion that direct gaze induces a higher arousal level.However,previous research on this issue had focused on behavioral measures.A handful of EEG studies supported the view that direct gaze is more attractive than averted gaze.Nonetheless,the results from EEG studies could not distinguish between the contribution of low-level facial feature and high-level social information to experimental results.Thus,it is still unclear whether the direct gaze attracts more attention,and whether the advantage is related to the fact that direct gaze may convey more social information.Using EEG technology,the present study adopted fast periodic visual stimulation paradigm(FPVS)to achieve dynamic visualization of gaze direction,with the ssVEP as the indictor.Three serial experiments were conducted to investigate whether dynamic direct gaze captures more attention,and what are the key factors influencing the captured attention of direct gaze.In the experiment 1,the SNR of ssVEP for Averted-Direct gaze was higher than that for Direct-Averted gaze under the upright face condition,however,no significant difference was observed under the inversed face condition.These results suggested that direct gaze attracted more attention than averted gaze,and this effect was due to the high-level social information.In the experiment 2,no significant difference in amplitude and SNR of ssVEP between direct gaze and averted gaze was found when the static images were presented,indicating that the dynamic change of gaze direction was influential.In the experiment 3,once the variation of amplitude of the dynamic gaze direction was reduced,no significant difference in amplitude and SNR of ssVEP between direct gaze and averted gaze was found,implying that the variation of amplitude of gaze direction was crucial to catch attention under the condition of direct gaze.Only when the variation amplitude of gaze direction became large enough was direct gaze more attractive in comparison to averted gaze.These findings revealed that dynamic direct gaze draws more attention in comparison to averted gaze,and the advantage of direct gaze in capturing attention may occur because of its social significance.Furthermore,the dynamic presentation of gaze direction and large amplitude of variation may be crucial to understanding the advantage of direct gaze in capturing attention.