Schedule of Events | Symposia

Parallel, not Serial processes underpin detection of a Stare in the Crowd

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 3:00 – 5:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Lynne Ling¹, Gregory Davis; ¹University of Cambridge

Previous research has reported a robust Stare-In-The-Crowd effect – a search asymmetry characterised by faster detection of direct gazing eyes than averted gazing ones. The attentional mechanisms underpinning the SITCE remain controversial, largely due to a paucity of behavioural measures capable of distinguishing noisy, parallel processes from serial ones. In the current study, we applied a new method, the Attention Location and Size (ATLAS) Task, designed to distinguish between candidate search processes. In this task, observers begin each trial by searching for a target stimulus. To profile attention and its guidance, search is sometimes interrupted, with memory probes replacing each search stimulus. Participants choose just one memory probe they wish to report from those available; the number and spatial arrangement of available items is then manipulated to profile attention’s breadth and changing proximity to search targets’ locations across time. In two search experiments, each with additional ‘calibration’ conditions to establish expected serial and parallel attention patterns, plus acuity changes due to eye movements, it was found that the breadths of attention when searching for direct- vs. averted-gaze targets were comparable. Changes in target proximity were also inconsistent with any unguided serial process. Instead, a stronger and potentially earlier-emerging attentional guidance process towards direct-gaze targets in comparison to averted-gaze targets was found, likely explaining the search asymmetry.

Topic Area: ATTENTION: Spatial