The effect of distance on the overestimation of gaze direction.

Abstract

A widely known result from gaze perception research is the overestimation effect where gaze direction-or more precisely gaze endpoints-is seen farther to the side than they actually are. A common gain factor reported in the literature is 1.5, that is, an overestimation of gaze endpoint by 50%. Gaze endpoint, however, must be a joint function of gaze angle and distance. Results from data collected between 2022 and 2024 show that a strong overestimation for photographed models at short distances turns into almost perfect perception at larger distances. This was equally true when gazing was done with the eyes only (head straight relative to observer) and with the head only (eyes straight relative to head). A new method measures gaze angle by triangulation from fixation points at varying distances and separates two components: (a) a slope and (b) an intercept. This triangulation indicates that the overestimation of gaze angle (slope) is very moderate and that the strong effects in gaze endpoints are mainly due to the intercept. Further experiments indicate that the intercept effects are confined to two-dimensional pictures of lookers and are not observed in physical three-dimensional lookers. The results are interpreted with reference to the distinction between picture space and physical space. Moreover, the present results do not fully comply with the classic partial-occlusion explanation for the overestimation effect. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).