Abstract

The ability to follow other people's gaze allows us to collect information about the environment where we live. Indeed, understanding others' focus of attention enables to understand their behaviour and makes it possible to gather important information about events that can be of interest for us. This review is aimed at presenting the dynamics underlying gaze-mediated orienting of attention in adults in a perspective highlighting its fundamental role in human social cognition. We will discuss the peculiarities of this orienting process, its evolutionary significance and, in the end, we will take into consideration the characteristics of the cueing face that can affect it.