Abstract
Visual saliency maps reflecting locations that stand out from the background in terms of their low-level physical features have proven to be very useful for empirical research on attentional exploration and reliably predict gaze behavior. In the present study we tested these predictions for socially relevant stimuli occurring in naturalistic scenes using eye tracking. We hypothesized that social features (i.e. human faces or bodies) would be processed preferentially over non-social features (i.e. objects, animals) regardless of their low-level saliency. To challenge this notion, we included three tasks that deliberately addressed non-social attributes. In agreement with our hypothesis, social information, especially heads, was preferentially attended compared to highly salient image regions across all tasks. Social information was never required to solve a task but was regarded nevertheless. More so, after completing the task requirements, viewing behavior reverted back to that of free-viewing with heavy prioritization of social features. Additionally, initial eye movements reflecting potentially automatic shifts of attention, were predominantly directed towards heads irrespective of top-down task demands. On these grounds, we suggest that social stimuli may provide exclusive access to the priority map, enabling social attention to override reflexive and controlled attentional processes. Furthermore, our results challenge the generalizability of saliency-based attention models.
Highlights
IntroductionVisual attention is guided by both cognitive endogenous (topdown) factors, such as knowledge, expectation and current goals, and exogenous (bottom-up) factors that reflect sensory stimulation
According to traditional models, visual attention is guided by both cognitive endogenous factors, such as knowledge, expectation and current goals, and exogenous factors that reflect sensory stimulation
We further addressed the influence of saliency within these social aspects and results indicate that saliency does influence allocation of attention to more salient regions within head and body regions of interest (ROIs) in a scene, the difference between high and low saliency was smaller for these social areas compared to that of the background
Summary
Visual attention is guided by both cognitive endogenous (topdown) factors, such as knowledge, expectation and current goals, and exogenous (bottom-up) factors that reflect sensory stimulation. This insight is based on numerous experimental laboratory paradigms using simple stimuli to disentangle and identify mechanisms underlying attention control Prominent aspects in our environment are important due to their features, and through their behavioral relevance. A large body of research that was devoted to predicting gaze behavior, relied on the calculation of so-called saliency maps, which filter early features, such as orientation, contrast intensity
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