title: The Effect of Head Orientation on Perceived Gaze Direction: Revisiting Gibson and Pick (1963) and Cline (1967).
abstract: Two biases in perceived gaze direction have been observed when eye and head orientation are not aligned. An overshoot effect indicates that perceived gaze direction is shifted away from head orientation (i.e., a repulsive effect), whereas a towing effect indicates that perceived gaze direction falls in between head and eye orientation (i.e., an attraction effect). In the 60s, three influential papers have been published with respect to the effect of head orientation on perceived gaze direction (Gibson and Pick, 1963; Cline, 1967; Anstis et al., 1969). Throughout the years, the results of two of these (Gibson and Pick, 1963; Cline, 1967) have been interpreted differently by a number of authors. In this paper, we critically discuss potential sources of confusion that have led to differential interpretations of both studies. At first sight, the results of Cline (1967), despite having been a major topic of discussion, unambiguously seem to indicate a towing effect whereas Gibson and Pick's (1963) results seem to be the most ambiguous, although they have never been questioned in the literature. To shed further light on this apparent inconsistency, we repeated the critical experiments reported in both studies. Our results indicate an overshoot effect in both studies.
authors: Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Department of Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven Leuven, Belgium.
authors: Pieter
authors: P
authors: Moors
authors: Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Department of Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven Leuven, Belgium.
authors: Karl
authors: K
authors: Verfaillie
authors: Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Department of Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven Leuven, Belgium.
authors: Thalia
authors: T
authors: Daems
authors: The Leon Schiller National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre Lodz, Poland.
authors: Iwona
authors: I
authors: Pomianowska
authors: Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Department of Brain and Cognition, KU LeuvenLeuven, Belgium; Department of Work and Organisation Studies, KU LeuvenLeuven, Belgium.
authors: Filip
authors: F
authors: Germeys
keywords: gaze perception; joint attention; overshoot effect; perceived gaze direction; towing effect