Authors:

CALDER, A.J., Jenkins, R., Cassel, A., and Clifford, C.W.G

Reference:

Year of publication:

2008

CBU number:

6626

Abstract:

To date there is no functional account of the visual perception of gaze in humans. Previous work has demonstrated that left and right gaze are represented by separate mechanisms. However, these data are consistent with either a multichannel system comprising separate channels for distinct gaze directions (e.g., left, direct, and right), or an opponent coding system in which all gaze directions are coded by just two pools of cells, one coding left gaze the other right, with direct gaze represented as a neutral point reflecting equal activation of both left and right pools. In two experiments we used adaptation procedures to investigate which of these models provides the optimal account. Both experiments supported multichannel coding. Previous research has shown that facial identity is coded by an opponent-coding system, hence our results also demonstrate that gaze is coded by a distinct representational framework to facial identity.