Are there quantitative differences between eye-gaze and arrow cues? A meta-analytic answer to the debate and a call for qualitative differences

Gaze acts from an early age as a cue to orient attention and, thereafter, to infer our social partners' intentions, thoughts, and emotions. Variants of the attentional orienting paradigm have been used to study the orienting capabilities associated to eye gaze. However, to date, it is still unclear whether this methodology truly assesses social-specific processes exclusively involved in attention to eye-gaze or the operation of domain-general attentional processes. The present study provides a comprehensive meta-analysis indicating that eye-gaze and non-social directional stimuli, such as arrows, produce equivalent attentional effects. This result casts doubt on the potential utility of the classic cueing task in revealing social-specific processes. On the other hand, we review behavioral evidence suggesting that eye-gaze stimuli may induce higher-order social processes when more specific experimental procedures that analyze qualitative rather than quantitative differences are used. These findings point to an integrated view in which domain-general and social specific processes both contribute to the attentional mechanisms induced by eye-gaze direction. Finally, some proposals about the social components specifically triggered by eye-gaze stimuli are discussed.

Automated summary

Gaze acts as a cue for orienting attention and inferring social partners' intentions, thoughts, and emotions. Previous studies have used attentional orienting paradigm to investigate gaze-related orienting capabilities. However, it is still unclear whether this methodology assesses social-specific processes or domain-general attentional processes. A comprehensive meta-analysis suggests that eye gaze and non-social directional stimuli produce equivalent attentional effects, questioning the utility of classic cueing task in revealing social-specific processes. Moreover, qualitative analysis suggests that eye gaze stimuli may induce higher-order social processes. These findings indicate that both domain-general and social-specific processes contribute to attentional mechanisms induced by eye gaze direction.