Person perception informs understanding of cognition during visual search

Abstract

Does person perception-the impressions we form from watching others-hold clues to the mental states of people engaged in cognitive tasks? We investigated this with a two-phase method: In Phase 1, participants searched on a computer screen (Experiment 1) or in an office (Experiment 2); in Phase 2, other participants rated the searchers' video-recorded behavior. The results showed that blind raters are sensitive to individual differences in search proficiency and search strategy, as well as to environmental factors affecting search difficulty. Also, different behaviors were linked to search success in each setting: Eye movement frequency predicted successful search on a computer screen; head movement frequency predicted search success in an office. In both settings, an active search strategy and positive emotional expressions were linked to search success. These data indicate that person perception informs cognition beyond the scope of performance measures, offering the potential for new measurements of cognition that are both rich and unobtrusive.Keywords Visual search . Eye movements and visual attention . Attention "You can observe a lot by just watching." -Widely attributed to Yogi Berra A typical experiment in cognitive psychology involves the presentation of a stimulus in a controlled laboratory setting, systematic variation of the conditions under which the stimulus is presented, and measurement of the participant's response with a combination of keypresses, brief vocal responses, eye movements, and limb actions. Cognitive researchers almost never look directly at participants while they perform in an experiment, leaving it an open question whether they are missing key features of visible behavior that are relevant to the mental processes under investigation. The purpose of the present study is to ask whether researchers can enhance their understanding of cognition by adding measures of person perception to their standard toolbox of performance measurements.Our motivation is both practical and theoretical. On the practical side, most personal computers today come equipped with a built-in webcam aimed directly at the user. We can think of no reason why this resource should lie dormant without consideration of its research potential. Theoretically, many studies in social psychology over the past decade have demonstrated the surprising reliability and validity of thin-slicing, referring to the ability of persons to make rapid evaluations of the personality, disposition, and intent of others from very small samples of their behavior (Ambady, Bernieri, & Richeson, 2000;Ambady, Hallahan, & Rosenthal, 1995;Borkenau & Liebler, 1995;Borkenau, Mauer, Riemann, Spinath, & Angleitner, 2004;Carney, Colvin, & Hall, 2007;Gladwell, 2007;Naumann, Vazire, Rentfrow, & Gosling, 2009;Rule, Macrae, & Ambady, 2009;Weisbuch & Ambady, 2011). Why should cognitive researchers not also consider this potential signal?A second theoretical motivation comes from the growing interest in emotional, social, and motivational influence...

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