The Effect of Central Vision Loss on Perception of Mutual Gaze

People with central vision loss (CVL) often report difficulties with social interactions and reduced social functioning.1, 2 A limited access to the nonverbal visual cues inherent to effective communication can be a disadvantage in social interactions. Wang and Boerner3 reported that for people with vision impairment, difficulty in social situations was due either to the individual’s own lack of ability to perceive visual cues or other people’s lack of understanding. The facial region has been noted as an important source of nonverbal visual information relevant to social situations.4 Prior studies of individuals with CVL due to age-related macular degeneration have focused primarily on dif…

The Effects of Hemianopia on Perception of Mutual Gaze

Significance Individuals with left hemianopic field loss (HFL), especially with neglect history, may have greater difficulties than individuals with right HFL in judging the direction of another person's gaze. Purpose Individuals with HFL often show a spatial bias in laboratory-based perceptual tasks. We investigated whether such biases also manifest in a more real-world task, perception of mutual gaze direction, an important, nonverbal communication cue in social interactions. Methods Participants adjusted the eye position of a life-size virtual head on a monitor at a 1-m distance until (1) the eyes appeared to be looking straight at them, or (2) the eyes were perceived to be no longer loo…

Are you looking at me? The effects of hemianopia on perception of mutual gaze