Ebbinghaus Empire

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Or online: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/83635437592

Perceiving perception and attending to attention

Our visual experience is determined not only by extrinsic properties (such as colours and shapes) but also by a type of peer pressure: We constantly monitor (and follow) where others are looking, and many past studies have emphasised the importance of others' eyes as uniquely powerful stimuli. In this talk, I will argue that perception is socially sophisticated, as it is driven not merely by tracking others’ eye and head movements, but rather by the perception of underlying mental states such as others’ attention and intentions. I will support this view by showing how gaze effects are attenuated when the eyes do not signal any underlying pattern of attention and intentions, and conversely, how our visual system spontaneously prioritizes others’ degree of attention (vs. distraction). These studies span various aspects of perception, from visual awareness to time perception, and together demonstrate that perception itself is intrinsically ‘social’: Ultimately, what matters for visual experience is not just perceiving and attending to the relevant physical features, but rather ‘perceiving perception’, and ‘attending to attention’.