Web-based spot-the-difference task tracks how we process social scenes

Researchers have introduced a web-based spot-the-difference paradigm designed to investigate how people process social information in naturalistic visual scenes, and a pilot study reported in Behavior Research Methods suggests the task can capture social salience through behavioral, eye-tracking, and mouse-tracking data collected simultaneously online.

The task systematically manipulated two factors: the presence versus absence of social elements, meaning social figures embedded in the scenes, and the location of the target difference, which could fall in either social or nonsocial regions. Participants identified differences between images via mouse clicks while their eye movements and mouse trajectories were recorded throughout the task, allowing the researchers to examine multiple streams of data at once rather than relying on a single measure.

In Study 1, behavioral and eye-tracking data supported the task’s sensitivity to social salience. Accuracy and reaction times differed for social versus nonsocial target differences, and participants consistently showed greater gaze fixation on social regions regardless of where the target difference appeared. This pattern indicates that social elements drew attention even when they were not relevant to the immediate goal of locating the difference.

The mouse-tracking data told a different story. Cursor trajectories more frequently fell within regions containing the target difference, which the authors interpret as reflecting more goal-oriented behavior. In other words, while gaze was drawn to social content, hand movements tracked the actual search goal, illustrating how the integrated multimodal recordings can distinguish between attentional capture and task-directed action.

Study 2 extended the paradigm to individual differences in autistic traits. Participants with higher autistic trait scores exhibited slower responses specifically in social contexts, irrespective of the location of the target difference, a pattern the authors suggest reflects increased cognitive demands during social information processing. Notably, their gaze and mouse movement patterns remained comparable to those of participants with lower autistic trait scores, meaning the effect appeared in response timing rather than in the spatial dynamics of looking or moving.

Because this was a pilot study, the findings are preliminary and the paradigm’s conclusions will require further validation. The authors nevertheless argue that the approach may provide a scalable and flexible way to study social cognition beyond traditional laboratory settings, since the task runs in a web browser and can combine eye-tracking and mouse-tracking without specialized in-lab equipment.

The paradigm’s flexibility lies in its design: by independently varying whether social figures are present and where the target difference appears, researchers can separate the effects of social content from the effects of task relevance. The simultaneous recording of eye movements and mouse trajectories adds a temporal dimension, potentially helping capture the dynamic unfolding of social information processing as it happens rather than only through final responses.

The study, published as an original manuscript in Behavior Research Methods, positions the spot-the-difference task as a promising tool for future research on social information processing in naturalistic scenes.

Subject of Research: A pilot study of a web-based spot-the-difference paradigm for studying social information processing in naturalistic visual scenes

Article Title: A web-based spot-the-difference paradigm for studying social information processing in naturalistic visual scenes

Article References: Ge, Y., Xia, Q., Li, G., Jiang, Y., & Wang, L. (2026). A web-based spot-the-difference paradigm for studying social information processing in naturalistic visual scenes. Behavior Research Methods, 58(12), Article 333. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-026-03213-8

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3758/s13428-026-03213-8

Keywords: spot-the-difference, social information processing, eye tracking, mouse tracking, autistic traits, visual scenes, web-based paradigm, attention, social salience, Behavior Research Methods, web-based, paradigm