Re-examining left visual field advantage in gaze cueing effect

Abstract The gaze cueing effect, which refers to the phenomenon where the gaze direction of others induces shifts of attention, has been a focal point of debate concerning visual field asymmetries in processing social cues. Previous studies using schematic faces have suggested a left visual field (LVF) advantage in processing gaze cues when participants were instructed to fixate on the screen center. This advantage was attributed to the right hemisphere dominance in processing social cues. However, the reliance on verbal instructions for fixation control has been criticized for potential inaccuracies in maintaining precise central fixation, and the use of schematic faces may not fully represent real-face processing. This study aimed to fully re-examining the existence of the LVF advantage in the gaze cueing effect. Four experiments were conducted employing two types of methods to ensure accurate central fixation while participants viewed both real and schematic faces. Contrary to previous findings, the LVF advantage in the gaze cueing effect was not observed across all experiments, indicating a lack of support for the hypothesized visual field asymmetry. These results suggest that the visual field asymmetries in gaze-triggered attention shifts remain ambiguous and necessitate further systematic investigation.