Alan Kingstone
Biographic Data
| ID | 219403 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alan Kingstone |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alan |
| FAMILY NAME | Kingstone |
| SIGNATURE | KINGSTONE A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of British Columbia |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0025-855X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 44 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 101 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 44 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1987 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Effects of Psychological Distance on Mental Abstraction: A Registered Report of Four Tests of Construal-Level Theory
Construal-level theory (CLT) proposes that psychological distance influences the level of abstraction at which something is mentally construed: Things perceived as less probable (likelihood) or further away from the here (spatial distance), now (temporal distance), or self (social distance) are thought about more abstractly. In this international multilab study, we tested four basic hypotheses derived from core assumptions of CLT and explore pote…
Attributing Mind to Large Language Models: The Effect of Exposure and Individual Differences
The Impact of Face Masks on Social Perception Is Age-Dependent
Human faces are critical for social communication, enabling individuals to make rapid judgments about traits like trustworthiness and competence. Previous research suggests that face masks can enhance perceptions of trustworthiness and, to a lesser extent, competence, although findings on competence are more variable and context-dependent. Additionally, age-related facial cues influence social judgments, with older and younger faces being evaluat…
Autistic Traits and Mind Wandering: A Correlational Study of Themes, Intentionality, and Temporal Focus
There is abundant research on the nature and content of mind wandering (MW) in neurotypical individuals, yet little research in these areas on individuals high in autistic traits. The current study explored the relationship between autistic traits and several aspects of MW: themes, intentionality, temporal dimensions, and attitudes towards MW. A total of 1,477 participants completed measures of autistic traits, MW, and stress. Autistic trait leve…
Comfort Distance for Online and In‐Person Interactions: A Virtual Reality Study
Previous research has shown that people have a preferred distance during their in‐person interactions. However, it is less clear what the appropriate distance is for online interactions. The present study aimed to extend previous research by exploring whether comfort distance is different between dyadic interactions when taking place in a virtual online context compared with a virtual in‐person context. The study involved 44 undergraduate student…
Mind wandering during five minutes of rest: Autistic traits, visual thought, and thinking about others
Coordinating Attention in Face‐to‐Face Collaboration: The Dynamics of Gaze, Pointing, and Verbal Reference
During real‐world interactions, people rely on gaze, gestures, and verbal references to coordinate attention and establish shared understanding. Yet, it remains unclear if and how these modalities couple within and between interacting individuals in face‐to‐face settings. The current study addressed this issue by analyzing dyadic face‐to‐face interactions, where participants ( n = 52) collaboratively ranked paintings while their gaze, pointing ge…
Social comfort and attractiveness perception: Impact of Prosthetics, Physical Disability and Comfort Distance on Interpersonal Interactions
Derived from the disease-avoidance model is the hypothesis that people may direct negative cognitive and behavioural responses towards individuals with physical disfiguring conditions, including physical disabilities. According to the behavioral immune system, physical disability—a non-contagious physical disfigurement—may falsely activate cognitive disease-avoidance processes, resulting in prejudicial or negative responses toward individuals wit…
The medium modulates the medusa effect: Perceived mind in analogue and digital images
We effortlessly attribute mental states to other people. We also attribute minds to people depicted in pictures, albeit at a reduced strength. Intriguingly, this reduction in intensity continues for images of people within a photograph itself-a phenomenon known as the Medusa effect. The present study replicates the Medusa effect for images shown digitally and on paper. Crucially, we demonstrate that we can reduce the magnitude of the Medusa effec…
Large language models have divergent effects on self-perceptions of mind and the attributes considered uniquely human
The rise of powerful Large Language Models (LLMs) provides a compelling opportunity to investigate the consequences of anthropomorphism, particularly regarding how their exposure may influence the way individuals view themselves (self-perception) and other people (other-perception). Using a mind perception framework, we examined attributions of agency (the ability to do) and experience (the ability to feel). Participants evaluated their agentic a…
Incomplete Faces Do but Masked Faces Do Not Affect Mind Perception
The human face plays a critical role in how we perceive the minds of others. The current research across two studies explored whether face masks also impact mind perception, with the expectation that they lead to lower attributions of agency and experience to individuals, making them seem less mentally capable due to their association with reduced facial expression perception and impaired communication. In the first study, participants' ratings o…
Using XR (Extended Reality) for Behavioral, Clinical, and Learning Sciences Requires Updates in Infrastructure and Funding
Extended reality (XR, including augmented and virtual reality) creates a powerful intersection between information technology and cognitive, clinical, and education sciences. XR technology has long captured the public imagination, and its development is the focus of major technology companies. This article demonstrates the potential of XR to (1) deliver behavioral insights, (2) transform clinical treatments, and (3) improve learning and education…
The Interacting Effects of Height and Shoulder-to-Hip Ratio on Perceptions of Attractiveness, Masculinity, and Fighting Ability: Experimental Design and Ecological Validity Considerations
Neural Correlates and Perceived Attractiveness of Male and Female Shoulder-to-Hip Ratio in Men and Women: An EEG Study
While there are studies regarding the neural correlates of human facial attractiveness, there are few investigations considering neural responses for body form attractiveness. The most prominent physical feature defining men's attractiveness is their physical fitness and upper body strength. Shoulder-to-hip ratio (SHR), a sexually dimorphic trait in humans, is an indicator of men's attractiveness for both men and women. The current study is the f…
Larger vehicles are perceived as more aggressive, angry, dominant, and masculine
When eyes beat lips: Speaker gaze affects audiovisual integration in the McGurk illusion
Eye contact is a dynamic social signal that captures attention and plays a critical role in human communication. In particular, direct gaze often accompanies communicative acts in an ostensive function: a speaker directs her gaze towards the addressee to highlight the fact that this message is being intentionally communicated to her. The addressee, in turn, integrates the speaker’s auditory and visual speech signals (i.e., her vocal sounds and li…
De-evolving human eyes: The effect of eye camouflage on human attention
Eye spy: Gaze communication and deception during hide-and-seek
Virtual Reality Erotica: Exploring General Presence, Sexual Presence, Sexual Arousal, and Sexual Desire in Women
Mind the Robot! Variation in Attributions of Mind to a Wide Set of Real and Fictional Robots
Coordination effort in joint action is reflected in pupil size
Humans often perform visual tasks together, and when doing so, they tend to devise division of labor strategies to share the load. Implementing such strategies, however, is effortful as co-actors need to coordinate their actions. We tested if pupil size - a physiological correlate of mental effort - can detect such a coordination effort in a multiple object tracking task (MOT). Participants performed the MOT task jointly with a computer partner a…
Humans share task load with a computer partner if (they believe that) it acts human-like
In the near future humans will increasingly be required to cooperate and share task load with artificial agents in joint tasks as they will be able to greatly assist humans in various types of tasks and contexts. In the present study, we investigated humans' willingness to share task load with a computer partner in a joint visuospatial task. The partner was described as either behaving in a human-like or machine-like way and followed a pre-define…
Body Image and Voluntary Gaze Behaviors towards Physique-Salient Images
The purpose of this study was to explore body image correlates of voluntary consumption of physique-salient media. A secondary aim was to assess changes in affect following media consumption. Young adult men ( n = 47; mean age = 20.2 years) and women ( n = 87; mean age = 19.5 years) were discretely exposed to images of same-sex models with idealized- and average-physiques while completing an irrelevant computer task. Voluntary gaze at the images …
Waist to hip ratio and breast size modulate the processing of female body silhouettes: An EEG study
Physically attractive faces attract us physically
Two ways to the top: Evidence that dominance and prestige are distinct yet viable avenues to social rank and influence
The pursuit of social rank is a recurrent and pervasive challenge faced by individuals in all human societies. Yet, the precise means through which individuals compete for social standing remains unclear. In 2 studies, we investigated the impact of 2 fundamental strategies-Dominance (the use of force and intimidation to induce fear) and Prestige (the sharing of expertise or know-how to gain respect)-on the attainment of social rank, which we conc…
Cognitive Ethology: A new approach for studying human cognition
We all share a desire to understand and predict human cognition and behaviour as it occurs within complex real-world situations. This target article seeks to open a dialogue with our colleagues regarding this common goal. We begin by identifying the principles of most lab-based investigations and conclude that adhering to them will fail to generate valid theories of human cognition and behaviour in natural settings. We then present an alternative…
Fillers as Signals: Evidence From a Question–Answering Paradigm
The present study examined the influence of a human or computer “partner” on the production of fillers (um and uh) during a question and answer task. Experiment 1 investigated whether or not responding to a human partner as opposed to a computer partner results in a higher rate of filler production. Participants produced many more fillers when responding to a human. Experiment 2 tested the possibility that this large effect was driven by the mere…
Aligning Spinoza with Descartes: An informed Cartesian account of the truth bias
There is a bias towards believing information is true rather than false. The Spinozan account claims there is an early, automatic bias towards believing. Only afterwards can people engage in an effortful re-evaluation and disbelieve the information. Supporting this account, there is a greater bias towards believing information is true when under cognitive load. However, developing on the Adaptive Lie Detector (ALIED) theory, the informed Cartesia…
Inferring Others' Hidden Thoughts: Smart Guesses in a Low Diagnostic World
People are biased toward believing that what others say is what they truly think. This effect, known as the truth bias, has often been characterized as a judgmental error that impedes accuracy. We consider an alternative view: that it reflects the use of contextual information to make the best guess when the currently available information has low diagnosticity. Participants learnt the diagnostic value of four cues, which were present during trut…
Time to act and attend to the real mechanisms of action and attention
We discuss Humphreys' article in the context of two challenges that exist in regards to future research on the link between action and attention: (1) determining the cognitive and neural mechanisms responsible for an action-attention link and (2) demonstrating that the action-attention links observed in the laboratory reflect the same links between action and attention observed in the complexities of everyday life
Effects of alcohol on word categorization and recognition memory
Thirty‐six subjects were given no alcohol on one day and 1 ml alcohol/kg body weight on another (the order of administration being counterbalanced across subjects). In both sessions, they performed a word categorization task involving surface and semantic processing of lists of 50 words followed by a recognition task (the presentation of those words in addition to an equal number of new words for speeded recognition). For categorization, subjects…
The eyes have it! Reflexive orienting is triggered by nonpredictive gaze
Hemisphere differences in conscious and unconscious word reading
Metacognitive errors in change detection: Missing the gap between lab and life
Metacognition and change detection: Do lab and life really converge
Three responses to Cognitive Ethology
Cognitive Ethology: A new approach for studying human cognition
We all share a desire to understand and predict human cognition and behaviour as it occurs within complex real-world situations. This target article seeks to open a dialogue with our colleagues regarding this common goal. We begin by identifying the principles of most lab-based investigations and conclude that adhering to them will fail to generate valid theories of human cognition and behaviour in natural settings. We then present an alternative…
Time to act and attend to the real mechanisms of action and attention
We discuss Humphreys' article in the context of two challenges that exist in regards to future research on the link between action and attention: (1) determining the cognitive and neural mechanisms responsible for an action-attention link and (2) demonstrating that the action-attention links observed in the laboratory reflect the same links between action and attention observed in the complexities of everyday life
Two ways to the top: Evidence that dominance and prestige are distinct yet viable avenues to social rank and influence
The pursuit of social rank is a recurrent and pervasive challenge faced by individuals in all human societies. Yet, the precise means through which individuals compete for social standing remains unclear. In 2 studies, we investigated the impact of 2 fundamental strategies-Dominance (the use of force and intimidation to induce fear) and Prestige (the sharing of expertise or know-how to gain respect)-on the attainment of social rank, which we conc…
Natural gaze signaling in a social context
Fillers as Signals: Evidence From a Question–Answering Paradigm
The present study examined the influence of a human or computer “partner” on the production of fillers (um and uh) during a question and answer task. Experiment 1 investigated whether or not responding to a human partner as opposed to a computer partner results in a higher rate of filler production. Participants produced many more fillers when responding to a human. Experiment 2 tested the possibility that this large effect was driven by the mere…
Inferring Others' Hidden Thoughts: Smart Guesses in a Low Diagnostic World
People are biased toward believing that what others say is what they truly think. This effect, known as the truth bias, has often been characterized as a judgmental error that impedes accuracy. We consider an alternative view: that it reflects the use of contextual information to make the best guess when the currently available information has low diagnosticity. Participants learnt the diagnostic value of four cues, which were present during trut…
Wearable computing: Will it make people prosocial
We recently reported that people who wear an eye tracker modify their natural looking behaviour in a prosocial manner. This change in looking behaviour represents a potential concern for researchers who wish to use eye trackers to understand the functioning of human attention. On the other hand, it may offer a real boon to manufacturers and consumers of wearable computing (e.g., Google Glass), for if wearable computing causes people to behave in …
Handbook of Attention
Laboratory research on human attention has often been conducted under conditions that bear little resemblance to the complexity of our everyday lives. Although this research has yielded interesting discoveries, few scholars have truly connected these findings to natural experiences. This book bridges the gap between “laboratory and life” by bringing together cutting-edge research using traditional methodologies with research that focuses on atten…
Attention and ageing: Measuring effects of involuntary and voluntary orienting in isolation and in combination
The cueing paradigm provides an established method for eliciting involuntary and voluntary attention shifts. Involuntary orienting is traditionally measured with non-predictive peripheral cues and voluntary orienting with predictive central arrows. Recent studies with young adults have established that predictive central arrows trigger a combination of involuntary and voluntary orienting, raising the possibility that previous studies - including …
Camouflaged attention: Covert attention is critical to social communication in natural settings
Aligning Spinoza with Descartes: An informed Cartesian account of the truth bias
There is a bias towards believing information is true rather than false. The Spinozan account claims there is an early, automatic bias towards believing. Only afterwards can people engage in an effortful re-evaluation and disbelieve the information. Supporting this account, there is a greater bias towards believing information is true when under cognitive load. However, developing on the Adaptive Lie Detector (ALIED) theory, the informed Cartesia…
Waist to hip ratio and breast size modulate the processing of female body silhouettes: An EEG study
Physically attractive faces attract us physically
I spy without my eye: Covert attention in human social interactions
Sex Difference on the Importance of Veiling: A Cross-Cultural Investigation
Veiling is an ancient cultural practice endorsed by religion, social institutions, and laws. Recently, there have been adaptive arguments to explain its function and existence. Specifically, it is argued that veiling women is a form of male mate guarding strategy, which aims to increase sexual fidelity by decreasing overt displays of his mate’s physical attractiveness, thereby helping to secure his reproductive success. Furthermore, it is suggest…
Coordination effort in joint action is reflected in pupil size
Humans often perform visual tasks together, and when doing so, they tend to devise division of labor strategies to share the load. Implementing such strategies, however, is effortful as co-actors need to coordinate their actions. We tested if pupil size - a physiological correlate of mental effort - can detect such a coordination effort in a multiple object tracking task (MOT). Participants performed the MOT task jointly with a computer partner a…
Humans share task load with a computer partner if (they believe that) it acts human-like
In the near future humans will increasingly be required to cooperate and share task load with artificial agents in joint tasks as they will be able to greatly assist humans in various types of tasks and contexts. In the present study, we investigated humans' willingness to share task load with a computer partner in a joint visuospatial task. The partner was described as either behaving in a human-like or machine-like way and followed a pre-define…
Body Image and Voluntary Gaze Behaviors towards Physique-Salient Images
The purpose of this study was to explore body image correlates of voluntary consumption of physique-salient media. A secondary aim was to assess changes in affect following media consumption. Young adult men ( n = 47; mean age = 20.2 years) and women ( n = 87; mean age = 19.5 years) were discretely exposed to images of same-sex models with idealized- and average-physiques while completing an irrelevant computer task. Voluntary gaze at the images …
Larger vehicles are perceived as more aggressive, angry, dominant, and masculine
Psychology (36 works) · Cognitive psychology (27 works) · Social Psychology (22 works) · Computer Science (15 works) · Face Recognition and Perception (15 works) · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior (12 works) · Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies (11 works) · Neuroscience (11 works) · Cognition (10 works) · Action Observation and Synchronization (9 works)