Temporal Characteristics and Interaction of Attentional Shifts between Eye Gaze and Head Direction Cues

Abstract

To investigate temporal characteristics of attentional shifts triggered by eye gaze and head direction, reaction times for target detection were measured in three different cue conditions at various stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). Difference between cue conditions was found at short SOAs of 100, 200, and 400 ms. Attentional shifts in the eye gaze condition indicated perceptual facilitations, while those in the eye gaze-head incongruent condition became smaller than those in the eye gaze condition. However, although head orientation was compatible with eye gaze in the eye gaze-head congruent condition, perceptual inhibitions were revealed in this condition. At long SOAs of 700 and 1000 ms, differences between cue conditions disappeared. These results suggest that attentional shifts triggered by eye gaze become effective immediately, and this could be interfered with if accompanied by head orientation.