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Article published In: Interaction Studies
Vol. 18:2 (2017) ► pp.234–253

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The awareness of joint attention

A study using gaze contingent avatars

 | Université Pierre et Marie Curie |
 | Université Pierre et Marie Curie |
 | Laboratoire d’Informatique pour la Mécanique et les Sciences de l’Ingénieur |
 | Université Pierre et Marie Curie |
Published online: 8 December 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/is.18.2.05gry
This study investigates a specific aspect of joint attention, that is, the emergence of the sense that one is leading the attentional focus of others. Thirty participants were placed in front of two avatars and had to pay attention to objects that were also attended to by the avatars. Unbeknownst to the participant, the avatars’ gaze orientations were alternately controlled by the participant’s eyes. Eye-tracking data were collected and participants were enquired about their experience to account for their sense of agency. Only five participants noticed that the avatars were following their gaze. The 25 participants who remained unaware that they controlled the avatars nevertheless modified their gazing behavior with an increase in direct gaze toward one of the avatars. This outcome highlights a dissociation between an implicit feeling that a change occurred and the explicit awareness of being the cause of this change.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Material
    • 2.3Procedure
  • 2.4Results
  • 3.Discussion
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (39)
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Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Jording, Mathis, Arne Hartz, David H. V. Vogel, Martin Schulte-Rüther & Kai Vogeley
2024. Impaired recognition of interactive intentions in adults with autism spectrum disorder not attributable to differences in visual attention or coordination via eye contact and joint attention. Scientific Reports 14:1 DOI logo
Grynszpan, Ouriel, Julie Bouteiller, Séverine Grynszpan, Florence Le Barillier, Jean-Claude Martin & Jacqueline Nadel
2019. Altered sense of gaze leading in autism. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders 67 ► pp. 101441 ff. DOI logo
Recht, Samuel & Ouriel Grynszpan
2019. The sense of social agency in gaze leading. Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces 13:1 ► pp. 19 ff. DOI logo

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