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10 - Levels of Complexity and the Duality of Gaze

How Social Attention Changes from Lab to Life

from Part III - Thinking, Perceiving and Acting with Others

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2016

By
K. E. W. Laidlaw ,
E. F. Risko  and
A. Kingstone
Edited by
Sukhvinder S. Obhi  and
Emily S. Cross
Sukhvinder S. Obhi
Affiliation:
McMaster University, Ontario
Emily S. Cross
Affiliation:
Bangor University
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Summary

The field of social attention has its origins in traditional visual attention research, and has largely continued to rely on the same highly controlled, laboratory based paradigms that are typically used to study basic cognitive processes. There is debate about whether these methods can be applied appropriately to the study of socially driven behaviors. Indeed, recent evidence from more naturalistic investigations suggest that while researchers may gain some insight into the mechanisms underlying social attention by relying on more traditionally lab-based approaches, much will be missed. The present chapter focuses on findings from new paradigms sensitive to the social influences on attention, and review research demonstrating patterns of looking-behavior in realistic situations that are counter to what is found “in the lab.” A dual function approach to gaze behavior is described that accommodates these results into a framework that emphasizes the importance of gaze for both acquiring social information and controlling what is communicated to others. Understanding the mechanisms underlying both of these functions and, importantly, their interaction, will lead to a deeper understanding of social attention.
Type
Chapter
Information
Shared Representations
Sensorimotor Foundations of Social Life
 , pp. 195 - 215
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2016

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