Eye configuration influences the detection advantage of direct gaze

Research has shown that individuals detect direct eyes (those directed to the observer) more quickly and accurately than averted eyes (those directed elsewhere), a phenomenon known as the direct-gaze advantage. However, the underlying mechanisms of this advantage remain poorly understood. The current study employed a visual search task to investigate whether the direct-gaze advantage in capturing attention is contingent upon a specific configuration (face configuration or eyes configuration). In two experiments, participants were presented with four images and asked to judge whether there was a target with a direct or averted gaze. Experiment 1 revealed that participants showed the direct-gaze advantage across three image types: intact faces (maintaining both two-eye and face configuration), scrambled faces with intact eyes (disrupting the face configuration while preserving the two-eye configuration), and fully scrambled faces (preserving only the single-eye configuration). Experiment 2 further demonstrated that participants showed the direct-gaze advantage for scrambled faces with intact eyes and fully scrambled faces under the upright condition. Interestingly, under the inverted condition, participants only showed the direct-gaze advantage for scrambled faces with intact eyes. These findings indicate that the direct-gaze advantage is influenced by the configuration of two eyes and the configuration of a single eye, but it is not dependent on facial contexts.