Abstract
A widely known result from gaze perception research is the overestimation effect where gaze direction – or more precisely gaze endpoints – are seen farther to the side than they actually are. A common number reported in the literature is a gain factor of 1.5, that is, an overestimation of gaze endpoint by 50%. Gaze endpoint, however, must be a joint function of gaze angle and distance. The present research thus examines whether the overestimation effect varies with distance. Results show that a strong overestimation at short distances turns into almost perfect perception at larger distances. The results stress the importance of distance in gaze direction perception. Moreover, the results indicate that the assumption of a single overestimation effect is fallacious and dependent on distance. We suggest a novel theoretical explanation of the effect.