Seeing it both ways: Using a double-cuing task to investigate the role of spatial cuing in Level-1 visual perspective-taking.

Citation

Michael J, Wolf T, Letesson C, Butterfill S, Skewes J & Hohwy J (2018) Seeing it both ways: Using a double-cuing task to investigate the role of spatial cuing in Level-1 visual perspective-taking.. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 44 (5), pp. 693-702. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000486

Abstract
Previous research using the dot-perspective task has produced evidence that humans may be equipped with a mechanism that spontaneously tracks others’ gaze direction and thereby acquires information about what they can see. Other findings, however, support the alternative hypothesis that a spatial-cuing mechanism underpins the effect observed in the dot-perspective task. To adjudicate between these hypotheses, we developed a double-cuing version of Posner’s (1980) spatial-cuing paradigm to be implemented in the dot-perspective task, and conducted 3 experiments in which we manipulated stimulus-onset asynchrony, as well as secondary task demands. Crucially, the 2 conflicting hypotheses generated divergent patterns of predictions across these experimental conditions. Our results support the hypothesis of an automatic perspective-taking mechanism.

Keywords
level 1 visual perspective-taking; theory of mind; attention; spatial cueing; implicit processing

Journal
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance: Volume 44, Issue 5