Gaze sensitivity: function and mechanisms from sensory and cognitive perspectives

Davidson, Gabrielle L.; Butler, Shannon R.; Fernández‐Juricic, Esteban; Thornton, Alex; Clayton, Nicola S.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.10.024

Cited by 55 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 104 publications

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“…Although many of these differences may be explained by socio-ecological differences (reviewed in Davidson et al, 2013), these functional explanations do not tell us whether animals are using gaze cues to read behavior or to infer attention. Northern bald ibises (Geronticus eremita) (Loretto, Schloegl, & Bugnyar, 2010) and gibbons (Hylobates spp.…”

Section: Attention Attribution and Visual Perspective Takingmentioning

confidence: 99%

New perspectives in gaze sensitivity research

Davidson

Clayton

2015

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Attending to where others are looking is thought to be of great adaptive benefit for animals when avoiding predators and interacting with group members. Many animals have been reported to respond to the gaze of others, by co-orienting their gaze with group members (gaze following) and/or responding fearfully to the gaze of predators or competitors (i.e., gaze aversion). Much of the literature has focused on the cognitive underpinnings of gaze sensitivity, namely whether animals have an understanding of the attention and visual perspectives in others. Yet there remain several unanswered questions regarding how animals learn to follow or avoid gaze and how experience may influence their behavioral responses. Many studies on the ontogeny of gaze sensitivity have shed light on how and when gaze abilities emerge and change across development, indicating the necessity to explore gaze sensitivity when animals are exposed to additional information from their environment as adults. Gaze aversion may be dependent upon experience and proximity to different predator types, other cues of predation risk, and the salience of gaze cues. Gaze following in the context of information transfer within social groups may also be dependent upon experience with group-members; therefore we propose novel means to explore the degree to which animals respond to gaze in a flexible manner, namely by inhibiting or enhancing gaze following responses. We hope this review will stimulate gaze sensitivity research to expand beyond the narrow scope of investigating underlying cognitive mechanisms, and to explore how gaze cues may function to communicate information other than attention.

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Section: Attention Attribution and Visual Perspective Takingmentioning

confidence: 99%

New perspectives in gaze sensitivity research

Davidson

Clayton

2015

Learn Behav

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“…foveal projection). Interestingly, some animals that are sensitive to gaze direction have visual systems that are different from humans [2]. For example, many birds have laterally placed eyes with centres of acute vision projecting to two distinct points in space [3], which increases uncertainty about gaze direction [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…where the retinal centres of acute vision project into visual space) is thought to indicate where one's attention is, and can be used as a form of social information to facilitate detection of relevant stimuli, highlight social interactions and alert others to danger [1]. The ability to determine where someone's visual attention is directed is called gaze sensitivity [2]. Additionally, animals can follow the visual attention of others by reorienting their own gaze (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…gaze following [1]). Gaze following is often further divided into (1) following gaze into distant space and (2) following gaze around a barrier or geometric gaze following [2]. The latter is considered more cognitively complex because the gaze follower should estimate a line of sight around the barrier to a point in space it may not have visual access to from its current position [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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European starlings recognize the location of robotic conspecific attention

Butler

Fernández‐Juricic

2014

Biol. Lett.

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Looking where others are allocating attention can facilitate social interactions by providing information about objects or locations of interest. We asked whether European starlings follow the orientation behaviour of conspecifics owing to their highly gregarious behaviour. Starlings reoriented their attention to follow that of a robot around a barrier more often than when the robot's attention was directed elsewhere. This is the first empirical evidence of reorienting in response to conspecific attention in a songbird. Starlings may use this behaviour to obtain fine-tuned spatial information from conspecifics (e.g. direction of predator approach, spatial location of food patches), enhancing group cohesion.

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“…By contrast, it has been hypothesized that the mechanisms governing saccades in primates evolved early in evolutionary history, driven by the needs of both predator and prey for effective searching and unpredictable gaze shifts, to avoid signaling their next moves (Carpenter 1999). Indeed, members of many taxa, including birds, have been shown to react to the gaze direction of potential predators (Davidson et al 2014), which suggests that unpredictable saccade timing can confer a fitness benefit. Each of these hypothesized models makes specific predictions for the distribution of saccade latencies (intersaccade intervals).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%