Gaze constancy in upright and inverted faces.

Abstract

The dual-route model (Otsuka, Mareschal, Calder, & Clifford, 2014) posits that constancy in the perception of gaze direction across lateral head rotation depends on the integration of information from the eye region and information about head rotation. Incorporation of information about head rotation serves to compensate for the change in eye-region information when viewing a rotated head. We tested the ability of this model to predict the magnitude of Wollaston's effect: When eyes from a frontal pose are inserted into an angled face, the perceived direction of gaze appears attracted towards the direction of the head. The framework of the dual-route model explains Wollaston's effect as a result of the misapplication of this same integration operation without any change in eye-region information. To test this explanation, we compared the magnitude of the integration occurring for Wollaston's effect to that for normal faces. Here, participants performed categorical judgment of gaze direction across head rotation poses in three image conditions: normal face, eyes-only, and Wollaston. Integration of eye and head information was inferred by comparing the effect of pose between the eyes-only condition and the normal face condition, and by examining the effect of pose in the Wollaston condition. Consistent with the dual-route model, the magnitude of integration was similar between the normal face condition and the Wollaston condition. Further, upright and inverted faces yielded similar levels of gaze constancy, showing that the dual-route model applies to the perception of gaze direction in inverted faces as well as in upright faces.