Abstract
Observing another person's actions activates a similar motor program in the observer, via a system of mirror neurons that match observation and execution of actions. In a somewhat similar manner, observing another person shift their gaze in a certain direction results in a shift of attention in the corresponding direction. This facilitates processing of objects at the gazed-at location. However, little is known about what happens to objects or locations that are gazed away from. If you are watching another person select an object via their gaze shift, do you activate a similar selection mechanism? If so, you should effectively ignore an object that has been ignored (i.e., gazed away from) by another individual. Here, we examine object- and location-based negative priming effects resulting from observing shifts of eye gaze direction.