AUTHOR=Leal Rato Miguel , Mares Inês , Aguiar de Sousa Diana , Senju Atsushi , Martins Isabel Pavão TITLE=Direct Gaze Partially Overcomes Hemispatial Neglect and Captures Spatial Attention JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology VOLUME=9 YEAR=2019 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02702 DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02702 ISSN=1664-1078 ABSTRACT=

Direct gaze has been shown to be a particularly important social cue, being preferentially processed even when unconsciously perceived. Results from several visual search tasks further suggest that direct gaze modulates attention, showing a faster orientation to faces perceived as looking toward us. The present study aimed to analyze putative modulation of spatial attention by eye gaze direction in patients with unilateral neglect. Eight right hemisphere stroke patients with neglect performed a target cancelation paradigm. Patients were instructed to cross all open-eyed pictures amidst closed eyed distractors. Target images were either in direct or averted gaze. Participants performed significantly better when observing targets with direct gaze supporting the hypothesis that this gaze direction captures attention. These findings further suggest that perception of direct gaze is able to diminish the visuospatial impairment seen in neglect patients.