Collaborative research: Significance of eye morphology on gaze perception

判断凝视方向的能力对许多社交行为至关重要。本项目将研究影响个体凝视方向识别能力的形态因素。在一个比较的框架中，研究人员将使用人类和非人类灵长类动物，研究眼睛形态和凝视知觉之间的关系。这项研究将更好地理解眼睛的外观如何影响灵长类动物的凝视知觉。外展活动将包括项目小组向高中生和社区成员提供关于灵长类动物行为和保护的互动演讲，特别关注学生和社区成员，他们属于在STEM领域代表性不足的群体。该项目还将在一所资源不足的高中开发灵长类行为模块；学生们将了解灵长类动物，并在当地一家动物园进行观察性研究。该团队将培训一名博士后助理以及本科生，了解灵长类动物的行为、保护和管理。凝视知觉对社会认知至关重要，但我们对眼睛形态影响它的方式的了解有限。这项研究将考察凝视知觉和眼睛形态之间的关系，以确定是否明显的眼睛形态有助于凝视知觉，而不明显的眼睛形态掩盖了凝视知觉。它将操纵眼睛的形态，并检查其对人类和其他灵长类动物凝视感知的影响。在向受试者展示了系统地操纵了眼睛形态的照片面孔阵列之后，它将指导受试者检测具有特定凝视方向的面孔。它将监测受试者的眼球运动，以跟踪他们在任务期间的凝视行为。这项研究的结果将有助于阐明眼睛形态对灵长类物种凝视感知的进化意义。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The ability to determine gaze direction is vital to many social behaviors. This project will study the morphological factors influencing individuals' abilities to detect gaze direction. Using human and nonhuman primates in a comparative framework, the researchers will study the relationship between eye morphology and gaze perception. The research will provide a better understanding of how the appearance of the eye influences gaze perception across the primate lineage. Outreach activities will include the project team giving interactive presentations on primate behavior and conservation to high school students and community members, with a particular focus on students and community members belonging to groups underrepresented in STEM fields. The project will also develop a primate behavior module at an under-resourced high school; the students will learn about primates and conduct observational studies at a local zoo. The team will train a postdoctoral associate, as well as undergraduate students, in primate behavior, conservation, and management.Gaze perception is of fundamental importance to social cognition but our understanding of the ways in which eye morphology impacts it is limited. This project will examine the relationship between gaze perception and eye morphology to determine whether conspicuous eye morphology facilitates gaze perception while inconspicuous eye morphology conceals gaze perception. It will manipulate eye morphology and examine its impact on gaze perception in humans as well as other primates. After presenting subjects with photographic arrays of faces that have systematically manipulated eye morphology, it will instruct subjects to detect faces with specific gaze directions. It will monitor the eye movements of subjects to track their gaze behavior during the task. The results of this study will help elucidate the evolutionary significance of eye morphology on gaze perception across primate species.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.