Downloads.Shtml] and the Model Is Described in Detail by Itti and Koch
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Gaze selection in the real world: finding evidence for a preferential selection of eyes. by ELINA BIRMINGHAM B. Sc., University of British Columbia, 2002 M. A., University of Toronto, 2003 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Psychology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA July, 2008 © Elina Birmingham, 2008 Abstract We have a strong intuition that people's eyes are unique, socially informative stimuli. As such, it is reasonable to propose that humans have developed a fundamental tendency to preferentially attend to eyes in the environment. The empirical evidence to support this intuition is, however, remarkably thin. Over the course of eight chapters, the present thesis considers the area of social attention, and what special role (if any) the selection of eyes has in it. Chapters 2 and 3 demonstrate that when observers are shown complex natural scenes, they look at the eyes more frequently than any other region. This selection preference is enhanced when the social content and activity in the scene is high, and when the task is to report on the attentional states in the scene. Chapters 4 and 5 establish that the bias to select eyes extends to a variety of tasks, suggesting that it may be fundamental to human social attention. In addition, Chapter 5 shows that observers who are told that they will have to remember the scenes look more often at the eyes than observers who are unaware of the forthcoming memory test; moreover this difference between groups persists to scene recognition. Chapter 6 examines whether the preference for eyes can be explained by visual saliency. It cannot. Chapter 7 compares the selection of eyes to another socially communicative cue, the arrow. The results shed light on a recent controversy in the social attention field, and indicate again that there is a fundamental bias to select the eyes. Collectively the data suggest that for typically developing adults, eyes are rich, socially communicative stimuli that are preferentially attended to relative to other stimuli in the environment. ii Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. v List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................... viii Dedication .................................................................................................................................... ix Co-authorship statement ............................................................................................................... x CHAPTER 1 General Introduction .................................................................................................................... 11 Gaze Perception and Social Attention .................................................................................... 12 Models of Social Attention ....................................................................................................... 12 Selection and spatial orienting (shift) components of visual spatial attention ......................... 14 Spatial orienting (shift) to gazed-at locations .......................................................................... 17 Selection of gaze cues ............................................................................................................ 19 Thesis overview ...................................................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER 2 Social Attention and real world scenes: ...................................................................................... 33 the roles of action, competition, and social content. ................................................................... 33 Method .................................................................................................................................... 38 Results .................................................................................................................................... 39 Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 42 References .............................................................................................................................. 52 CHAPTER 3 Gaze selection in complex social scenes .................................................................................... 55 Method .................................................................................................................................... 59 Results .................................................................................................................................... 61 Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 63 References .............................................................................................................................. 73 CHAPTER 4 Is there a default bias to look at the eyes? .................................................................................. 75 Method .................................................................................................................................... 80 Results .................................................................................................................................... 81 Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 84 References .............................................................................................................................. 93 CHAPTER 5 Remembering social scenes ....................................................................................................... 95 Method .................................................................................................................................... 98 Results .................................................................................................................................. 100 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 103 References ............................................................................................................................ 111 CHAPTER 6 Saliency does not account for fixations to eyes within social scenes ....................................... 113 Methods ................................................................................................................................ 117 Results .................................................................................................................................. 118 iii Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 121 References ............................................................................................................................ 127 CHAPTER 7 Get real! Resolving the debate about equivalent social stimuli. ............................................... 129 Method .................................................................................................................................. 137 Results .................................................................................................................................. 139 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 143 References ............................................................................................................................ 156 CHAPTER 8 General Discussion ................................................................................................................... 160 1. Is there a preferential bias to select eyes from complex social scenes? ........................... 162 2. What factors influence this selection process? ................................................................. 163 3. To what extent does the preferential bias to select the eyes generalize to different tasks and situations? ...................................................................................................................... 164 4. What is the role of visual saliency in driving fixations to the eyes within complex social scenes? ................................................................................................................................. 165 5. How does studying the selection of social cues shed light on past controversies in the social attention literature? ..................................................................................................... 166 Implications ..........................................................................................................................