Does the Gaze Cascade Effect Occur in Various Judgments Other Than the Preference Judgment?

Abstract

When we are shown pairs of human faces and instructed to decide which face is more
preferred, our gaze is gradually biased toward the face that we eventually choose. Shi-
mojo, Simion, Shimojo, and Scheier (2003) coined this effect as the gaze cascade effect.
In this study, we investigated whether the gaze bias could be observed in various judg-
ments other than the preference judgment. In Experiment 1, we showed participants a
human face and asked them to memorize it. Then we showed them another human face
and asked to do two kinds of judgments: the preference judgment where they had to
choose which face they liked more and the dislike judgment where they had to choose
which face they disliked more. We found the gaze bias for memorized stimuli in both
judgments. In Experiment 2, we showed other participants two human faces and in-
structed to select one depending on each specific criterion for five different judgments
including the preference judgment. The gaze bias was observed in all judgments, most
robustly in the similar judgment where participants instructed to decide which face was
more similar to themselves. Contrary to findings by Shimojo et al. (2003), our results
suggest that the gaze cascade effect might be involved in the process of visual decision,
not limited in preferential formation.