Head turning is an effective cue for gaze following

Abstract

In referential communication, gaze is often interpreted as a social cue that facilitates comprehension and enables word learning. Here we investigated the degree to which head turning facilitates gaze following. We presented participants with static pictures of a man looking at a target object in a first and third block of trials, while they saw short videos of the same man turning towards the target in the second block. In Experiment 1, newly sighted individuals (recently treated for congenital cataracts) benefited from the motion cues, both when comparing their initial performance with static gaze cues to their performance with head turning, and their performance with static cues before and after the videos. In Experiment 2, neurotypical school children (ages 5-10 years) and adults also revealed improved performance with motion cues, although most participants had started to follow the static gaze cues by the end of the first block. Our results confirm that head turning is an effective social cue when interpreting new words, offering new insights for a pathways approach to development.