Coordinating Attention in Face-to-Face Collaboration: The Dynamics of Gaze, Pointing, and Verbal Reference.

ABSTRACT: During real-world interactions, people rely on gaze, gestures, and verbal references to coordinate attention and establish shared understanding. Yet, it remains unclear if and how these modalities couple within and between interacting individuals in face-to-face settings. The current study addressed this issue by analyzing dyadic face-to-face interactions, where participants (n = 52) collaboratively ranked paintings while their gaze, pointing gestures, and verbal references were recorded. Using cross-recurrence quantification analysis, we found that participants readily used pointing gestures to complement gaze and verbal reference cues and that gaze directed toward the partner followed canonical conversational patterns, that is, more looks to the other's face when listening than speaking.

SUBMITTER: Haraped L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12490867 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature