Science & Technology, Australia (Commonwealth Union) – The face is often considered the feature with the highest significance, to which most people notice at 1st glance and interact with. However new research suggests that the face may not be as significant as previously assumed.
A study combining wearable eye-tracking technology together with Artificial Intelligence (AI) body detection software indicates that our eyes are not drawn to the faces of passers-by as much as assumed on prior occasions.
Faces are significant in daily social interactions. A slight glance provides us vital signals about a person’s emotional state, intentions and identity assisting us to navigate our social world.
However, the study evaluating social attention, on how we notice and process the actions and behaviors of others in social contexts, were primarily restricted to lab-based studies where participants see social scenes on computer screens. Presently a study from the School of Psychology at The University of New South Wales (UNSW), Science formed a new approach that may pave the way for further studies of social attention in natural settings.
The novel method correlates eye-movement data with wearable eye-tracking glasses having evaluations from an automatic face and body detection algorithm tracking when and where participants focused when fixating on other people. The methodology, given in further details in the journal Scientific Reports, can be utilized in future applications, according to researchers.
The application of AI has further enhanced present research in many different fields with new technology along with various analytical software, focusing on minute details which was previously not possible.
“Studies of social attention to date are almost entirely based on people viewing images or videos containing other people on computer screens. Surprisingly, little is known about how people direct their attention towards others in unconstrained natural settings,” explained Associate Professor David White, an author of the study as well as the lead investigator in the Face Research Lab at UNSW Sydney. “This new method will help us to understand social attention beyond the lab environment and how it unfolds ‘in the wild’, with millisecond precision.”
While the advance is mainly methodological, the results of the research indicate that our eyes are not necessarily drawn to the faces of others passing by, perhaps not to the extent that was previously assumed. Data from 30 participants of the study demonstrated that they viewed the faces of just 16% of the people they walked past in a 20-minute circular route as they wore the mobile eye-tracking device.
“There were also significant differences between individuals in their social orientation, with some individuals looking at almost everyone they passed and others not at all,” explained Associate Professor White. “The reasons for these individual differences are unknown but prior work where participants viewed social scenes on computer screens suggest that these differences are related to people’s genetics.”
Researchers also discovered that participants had an increased chance of fixating on people when their faces were in full view. But contrary to present evidence, faces held focus not more than other body regions like the legs.
Associate Professor White indicated that there was proof in literature faces had an increased chance of getting our attention when viewed straight on, however they discovered although participants had an increased chance look to an individual as their face is straight on, they have no increased likelihood to look at the face in itself, just that we had an increased chance to fixate anywhere on the individual’s body. This is further evidence that faces are not automatically capturing attention as lab-based research indicates.
Researcher are planning a follow-up study with a wider sample size to find out if the results generalize to a broader population.
