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Decoding of the other’s focus of attention by a temporal cortex module
Edited by Leslie G. Ungerleider, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, and approved December 24, 2019 (received for review July 3, 2019)

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Significance
We follow the other’s gaze to objects of interest to the other and share attention to the object, a key step toward a theory of (the other’s) mind. Monkeys also follow gaze and establish joint attention. Although monkeys depend more on head gaze (i.e., the orientation of the other’s face) than humans, monkey gaze following exhibits many parallels to human gaze following, rendering monkeys the perfect model for studies of its neural underpinnings. Here we report the identification of a gaze following hub in the monkey superior temporal characterized by neurons that link information on the other’s gaze with distinct targets. Importantly, this link is modifiable by contextual information, allowing the executive control of gaze following.
Abstract
Faces attract the observer’s attention toward objects and locations of interest for the other, thereby allowing the two agents to establish joint attention. Previous work has delineated a network of cortical “patches” in the macaque cortex, processing faces, eventually also extracting information on the other’s gaze direction. Yet, the neural mechanism that links information on gaze direction, guiding the observer’s attention to the relevant object, has remained elusive. Here we present electrophysiological evidence for the existence of a distinct “gaze-following patch” (GFP) with neurons that establish this linkage in a highly flexible manner. The other’s gaze and the object, singled out by the gaze, are linked only if this linkage is pertinent within the prevailing social context. The properties of these neurons establish the GFP as a key switch in controlling social interactions based on the other’s gaze.
Footnotes
- ↵1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: hamidreza.ramezanpour{at}uni-tuebingen.de or thier{at}uni-tuebingen.de.
Author contributions: H.R. and P.T. designed research; H.R. performed research; H.R. analyzed data; H.R. and P.T. wrote the paper; and P.T. developed the conceptual framework and contributed to discussing analysis.
The authors declare no competing interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
Data deposition: Data for this article have been deposited at Figshare (https://figshare.com/articles/Dataset_Decoding_of_the_other_s_focus_of_attention_by_a_temporal_cortex_module/10265993).
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This article contains supporting information online at https://www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1911269117/-/DCSupplemental.
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