Eye contact plays an important role in social interaction and can capture and hold attention. However, it is unclear whether and how objects that can also guide attentional allocation interact with eye contact in guiding attention. Therefore, the current study adapted a well-established two-rectangle paradigm and used faces depicting different gaze directions (direct and averted) or rectangles overlaid with eyes as stimuli. In Experiment 1, we simultaneously presented two faces (one direct gaze, one averted gaze) to participants, manipulating cue location (direct-gaze face, averted-gaze face). The results revealed a larger object-based effect when the cue appeared on the direct-gaze face compared to the averted-gaze face. In Experiment 2, inverted faces were presented, and the results mirrored those of Experiment 1. Interestingly, rectangles overlaid with eyes were presented in Experiment 3, and the results showed that the object-based effect was larger when the cue appeared on the direct-gaze rectangle compared to the averted-gaze rectangle. These findings suggest that eye contact can interact with objects in guiding attention and that this effect is not reliant on the presence of the face. Our results can support attentional prioritization theory and may provide a new approach for diagnosing social-cognitive impairments. Public Significance StatementThe current study explored the effect of eye contact on attentional allocation. The findings show that eye contact can affect object-based attentional allocation, which indicates that eye contact can interact with objects to guide attention. Our findings are of interest and significance to the public at large. First, our research demonstrates how objects with social interaction information are attended in communication, which will help us communicate more efficiently and contribute to the achievement of interaction goals. Second, our findings may provide a new approach for diagnosing socialcognitive impairments such as autism spectrum disorder and social anxiety disorder. Third, our study provides theoretical guidance for ergonomics research (e.g., in advertising design). According to our findings, if the packaging or advertising of a commodity contains social interaction objects (e.g., direct-gaze face), then individuals' attention to the commodity will be improved, which may increase their purchase behavior.

Human beings can show preferentially attentional bias to different facial expressions. However, it is unclear whether the modulation of selective attention by facial expressions is based on the face itself (object-based attention) or its location (space-based attention). The current study aimed to test this problem by using faces with different emotional valences in the two-rectangle paradigm across three experiments. We found that there was no significant difference in space-based effect among the positive, neutral, and negative conditions. However, the object-based effect was larger for the negative condition than for the neutral and positive ones, because of its slower reaction times for the invalid different-object trials. The results indicated that the object-based attentional selection was modulated by facial expressions, and that faces expressing negative emotions hamper the disengagement of attention from the whole object (i.e., the face), instead of the certain location. Our study can further add support to the attentional prioritization hypothesis over attentional spreading hypothesis.

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