A universal of human social cognition: children from 17 communities process gaze in similar ways

Abstract

Theoretical accounts typically assume that key features of human socio-cognitive development are universal. This paper reports a large-scale cross-cultural study (17 communities, diverse ethnicities, N = 1,377, 709 female, mean = 5.50 years, collected March 2022 to January 2024) on gaze following in early childhood. To test for universality, cognitive processing signatures were derived from a computational model treating gaze following as social vector estimation. Results showed substantial variation between communities and individuals. Yet, the processing signature was found in all communities. Individual differences in performance were related to children's familiarity with the data-collection device but not opportunities for social interaction. These results provide strong evidence for gaze following as a universal socio-cognitive process despite cultural and individual-level variation in absolute performance. The eyes are the proverbial window into others' minds. Understanding where someone else is looking to infer what they are paying attention to is a key building block of human social cognition. This study tested more than 1,300 children from 17 communities worldwide using a tablet-based "balloon game" to measure gaze following. Despite cultural and individual differences in accuracy, all communities showed the same underlying processing signature predicted by a computational model. These findings provide strong evidence that gaze following is a universal feature of early socio-cognitive development.