Social decisions affect neural activity to perceived dynamic gaze.
Gaze direction, a cue of both social and spatial attention, is known to modulate early neural responses to faces e.g. N170. However, findings in the literature have been inconsistent, likely reflecting differences in stimulus characteristics and task requirements. Here, we investigated the effect of task on neural responses to dynamic gaze changes: away and toward transitions (resulting or not in eye contact). Subjects performed, in random order, social (away/toward them) and non-social (left/right) judgment tasks on these stimuli. Overall, in the non-social task, results showed a larger N170 to gaze aversion than gaze motion toward the observer. In the social task, however, this difference was no longer present in the right hemisphere, likely reflecting an enhanced N170 to gaze motion toward the observer. Our behavioral and event-related potential data indicate that performing social judgments enhances saliency of gaze motion toward the observer, even those that did not result in gaze contact. These data and that of previous studies suggest two modes of processing visual information: a 'default mode' that may focus on spatial information; a 'socially aware mode' that might be activated when subjects are required to make social judgments. The exact mechanism that allows switching from one mode to the other remains to be clarified.
Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington IN, USA, Institut de Neuroscience de la Timone, UMR7289, CNRS-Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France.
Marianne
M
Latinus
Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington IN, USA, Institut de Neuroscience de la Timone, UMR7289, CNRS-Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France.
Scott A
SA
Love
Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington IN, USA.
Alejandra
A
Rossi
Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington IN, USA.
Francisco J
FJ
Parada
Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington IN, USA.
Lisa
L
Huang
Laboratory of Psychopathology and Neuropsychology (LPN, EA2027), Paris 8 University, Saint-Denis, France.
Laurence
L
Conty
Inserm, U 1127 et Centre MEG-EEG, Paris, France, Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, UM 75, Paris, France. CNRS, U7225 et Centre MEG-EEG, Paris, France, and Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière (ICM), Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab and Centre MEG-EEG-CENIR, Paris, France.
Nathalie
N
George
Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington IN, USA.
Karin
K
James
Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington IN, USA, ainapuce@indiana.edu.
Aina
A
Puce
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult
N170; averted gaze; direct gaze; social and non-social context; task modulation