Department of Psychology, Centre for Human Learning and Development, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YF, UK.
Exp Brain Res. 2012 Sep;221(4):385-92. doi: 10.1007/s00221-012-3180-y. Epub 2012 Jul 14.
When the eye gaze of a face is congruent with the direction of an upcoming target, saccadic eye movements of the observer towards that target are generated more quickly, in comparison with eye gaze incongruent with the direction of the target. This work examined the conflict in an antisaccade task, when eye gaze points towards the target, but the saccadic eye movement should be triggered in the opposite direction. In a gaze cueing paradigm, a central face provided an attentional gaze cue towards the target or away from the target. Participants (N = 38) generated pro- and antisaccades to peripheral targets that were congruent or incongruent with the previous gaze cue. Paradoxically, facilitatory effects of a gaze cue towards the target were observed for both the pro- and antisaccade tasks. The results are consistent with the idea that eye gaze cues are processed in the task set that is compatible with the saccade programme. Thus, in an antisaccade paradigm, participants may anti-orient with respect to the gaze cue, resulting in faster saccades on trials when the gaze cue is towards the target. The results resemble a previous observation by Fischer and Weber (Exp Brain Res 109:507-512, 1996) using low-level peripheral cues. The current study extends this finding to include central socially communicative cues.
当面部的注视方向与即将出现的目标方向一致时，观察者的眼跳运动朝向该目标的速度会比注视方向与目标方向不一致时更快。本研究在反扫视任务中考察了这种冲突，即注视指向目标，但扫视眼动应该朝相反的方向触发。在注视提示范式中，中央面孔提供了一个朝向目标或远离目标的注意注视提示。参与者（N=38）对与之前的注视提示一致或不一致的外周目标进行了正扫视和反扫视。矛盾的是，注视提示朝向目标对正扫视和反扫视任务都产生了促进作用。这些结果与注视提示在与扫视程序兼容的任务设置中被处理的观点一致。因此，在反扫视范式中，参与者可能会根据注视提示进行反方向的扫视，从而导致注视提示指向目标时的扫视速度加快。这些结果类似于 Fischer 和 Weber（Exp Brain Res 109:507-512, 1996）使用低水平外周提示的先前观察结果。本研究将这一发现扩展到包括中央社会交流提示。
