The influence of top‐down modulation on the processing of direct gaze

an article by Nicolas Burra (Université de Genève, Switzerland) and Ines Mares and Atsushi Senju (Birkbeck, University of London, UK) published in WIREs Cognitive Science Volume 10 Issue 5 (September/October 2019)

Abstract

Gaze or eye contact is one of the most important nonverbal social cues, which is fundamental to human social interactions.

To achieve real time and dynamic face‐to‐face communication, our brain needs to process another person's gaze direction rapidly and without explicit instruction. In order to explain the fast and spontaneous processing of direct gaze, the fast‐track modulator model was proposed.

Here, we review recent developments in gaze processing research in the last decade to extend the fast‐track modulator model. In particular, we propose that task demand or top‐down modulation could play a more crucial role at gaze processing than formerly assumed. We suggest that under different task demands, top‐down modulation can facilitate or interfere with the direct gaze effects for early visual processing.

The proposed modification of the model extends the role of task demand and its implication on the direct gaze effect, as well as the need to better control for top‐down processing in order to better disentangle the role of top‐down and bottom‐up processing on the direct gaze effect.

Visual abstract

Modification of the fast‐track modulator model (Senju & Johnson, 2009). We included an arrow from the task‐relevant modulation and slow information processing.

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