Pavan, G. , Castelli, L. , Dal Bosco, S. & Galfano, G.
DPSS. University of Padova. Padova, Italy
Gaze-mediated orienting, namely the tendency to shift attention in the direction gazed by another individual, is a fundamental component of social attention. Although the eyes are a social stimulus, the possibility that social factors modulate gaze-mediated orienting has attracted interest only in recent years. In the present research, we tested the impact of shared gender membership between the cuing face and the participant on gaze-mediated orienting. This hypothesis was tested in an ecological context, namely in children attending the same class, Grade 4 at primary school. During this age, gender is one of the most relevant dimensions influencing group formation and friendships. Moreover, in the present study, children played the role of both participants and stimuli. Indeed, female and male participants were presented with a spatial-cuing paradigm in which they viewed photographs of their classmates gazing left or right before the onset of a lateralized target requiring an identification response. A significant gaze-mediated orienting emerged only towards same-gender classmates. The results highlight the role of gender as a moderator of social attention in children and emphasize the social nature of gaze-mediated orienting.