Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
Perception. 2024 Feb;53(2):93-109. doi: 10.1177/03010066231212156. Epub 2023 Nov 14.
The perception of direct gaze provides multiple benefits for the observer. Previous studies have investigated how the information from both eyes is used to estimate gaze direction, showing that the perception of gaze direction differs when only the externally rotated eye versus only the internally rotated eye is visible. We examined the width and center of the area of direct gaze by presenting the observers with either the externally or internally rotated eye, or both eyes with the task to judge whether a computer avatar is looking at them. Two experiments yield evidence for a wider area of direct gaze for the externally rotated eye (around 6°) than for the internally rotated eye (around 4°). The area of direct gaze for both eyes was found to be the same as for the internally rotated eye, but smaller than for the externally rotated eye. When both eyes were present, our results indicate that the perception of direct gaze is more likely to follow the internally rotated eye. The discussion substantiates a new generalization that observers base their judgments on the more rotated eye, which can differ due to angle kappa and vergence, in our study it is the internally rotated eye.
直接注视的感知为观察者提供了多种好处。先前的研究已经调查了如何使用来自两只眼睛的信息来估计注视方向，结果表明，当仅可见外部旋转的眼睛或仅内部旋转的眼睛时，注视方向的感知会有所不同。我们通过向观察者呈现外部或内部旋转的眼睛，或者两只眼睛，让他们判断计算机化身是否在看他们，来检查直接注视的宽度和中心。两项实验都证明，外部旋转的眼睛（约 6°）的直接注视区域比内部旋转的眼睛（约 4°）更宽。对于两只眼睛的直接注视区域，发现与内部旋转的眼睛相同，但小于外部旋转的眼睛。当两只眼睛都存在时，我们的结果表明，直接注视的感知更有可能跟随内部旋转的眼睛。讨论证实了一个新的概括，即观察者根据更旋转的眼睛做出判断，这可能由于角度 kappa 和散度而有所不同，在我们的研究中，这是内部旋转的眼睛。
