Visual saliency maps reflecting locations that stand out from the background in terms of their low-level physical features have proven to be very useful for empirical research on attentional exploration and reliably predict gaze behavior. In the present study we tested these predictions for socially relevant stimuli occurring in naturalistic scenes using eye tracking. We hypothesized that social features (i.e. human faces or bodies) would be processed preferentially over non-social features (i.e. objects, animals) regardless of their low-level saliency. To challenge this notion, we included three tasks that deliberately addressed non-social attributes. In agreement with our hypothesis, social information, especially heads, was preferentially attended compared to highly salient image regions across all tasks. Social information was never required to solve a task but was regarded nevertheless. More so, after completing the task requirements, viewing behavior reverted back to that of free-viewing with heavy prioritization of social features. Additionally, initial eye movements reflecting potentially automatic shifts of attention, were predominantly directed towards heads irrespective of top-down task demands. On these grounds, we suggest that social stimuli may provide exclusive access to the priority map, enabling social attention to override reflexive and controlled attentional processes. Furthermore, our results challenge the generalizability of saliency-based attention models.
Previous studies have shown an attentional bias towards social features during free-viewing of naturalistic scenes. This social attention seems to be reflexive and able to defy top-down demands in form of explicit search tasks. However, the question remains whether social features continue to be prioritized when peripheral information is limited, thereby reducing the influence of bottom-up image information on gaze orienting. Therefore, we established a gaze-contingent viewing paradigm, in which the visual field was constrained and updated in response to the viewer’s eye movements. Participants viewed social and non-social images that were randomly allocated to a free and a gaze-contingent viewing condition while their eye movements were tracked. Our results revealed a strong attentional bias towards social features in both conditions. However, gaze-contingent viewing altered temporal and spatial dynamics of viewing behavior. Additionally, recurrent fixations were more frequent and closer together in time for social compared to non-social stimuli in both viewing conditions. Taken together, this study implies a predominant selection of social features when bottom-up influences are diminished and a general influence of social content on visual exploratory behavior, thus highlighting mechanisms of social attention.
Purpose of Review Childhood trauma is an important risk factor for the development of personality disorders (PDs), yet most research has been devoted to categorical models of personality pathology. Considering the introduction of a dimensional PD model with ICD-11, we review current findings related to various forms of childhood trauma, and PDs, operationalized in the form of personality functioning and maladaptive traits. We focus on the magnitude of associations and examine specific relationships between emotional and physical trauma with areas of personality functioning and single traits. Recent Findings Two studies showed a strong association between childhood trauma and personality dysfunction. Seven studies, including clinical and forensic samples, demonstrated heterogeneous associations between various forms of childhood trauma and maladaptive traits. Overall, four studies indicated a slightly stronger association between personality dysfunction, maladaptive trait expression, and higher levels of emotional trauma than for physical or sexual trauma. Regarding specific trait domains and childhood trauma, most studies yielded the strongest associations for either psychoticism or detachment. Summary Research on childhood trauma and dimensional PD models (i.e., personality functioning and traits) has the potential to contribute to a better understanding of their complex relationship. However, high intercorrelations among different types of childhood trauma, areas of personality functioning, and trait domains increase the difficulty of disentangling single effects. More research is needed including clinical and non-Western samples, especially considering the upcoming ICD-11 classification.
Eye-tracking studies on social attention have consistently shown that humans prefer to attend to other human beings. Much less is known about whether a similar preference is also evident in covert attentional processes. To enable a direct comparison, this study examined covert and overt attentional guidance within two different experimental setups using complex naturalistic scenes instead of isolated single features. In the first experiment, a modified version of the dot-probe paradigm served as a measure of covert reflexive attention toward briefly presented scenes containing a social feature in one half of the visual field compared to nonsocial elements in the other while controlling for low-level visual saliency. Participants showed a stable congruency effect with faster reaction times and fewer errors for probes presented on the social side of the scene. In a second experiment, we tracked eye movements for the same set of stimuli while manipulating the presentation time to allow for differentiating reflexive and more sustained aspects of overt attention. Supportive of the first results, analyses revealed a robust preference for social features concerning initial saccade direction as well as fixation allocation. Collectively, these experiments imply preferential processing of social features over visually salient aspects for automatic allocation of covert as well as overt attention.
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