Abstract
Humans rely on gaze to encode information and signal to others. Gaze may indicate where someone is attending, but its contribution extends beyond spatial orientation. Evidence is scattered across different research traditions. This scoping review synthesises 361 publications on gaze as a meaningful social cue. Gaze semantics describes the systematic contribution of gaze to conveying and constraining social meaning. A cross-domain synthesis identified four recurrent operations: gaze orients by making objects, people, or locations socially relevant; addresses by positioning people as recipients or interaction partners; qualifies by modifying how other cues are interpreted; and coordinates by organising participation and unfolding action. These functional contributions can co-occur within a single gaze event. Gaze interpretation is inferential, shaped by five categories of contextual factors: signal properties; interactional availability; multimodal and sequential embedding; cultural, social and activity frame; and gazer and observer states and interactional history. We propose a Gazer-Observer Model of Gaze Understanding that integrates these findings to describe the dynamic relation between gaze production and interpretation. The same gaze pattern may support different interpretations across situations yet allow a relatively specific interpretation within a particular encounter. Gaze can therefore systematically affect social interpretation while remaining semantically underdetermined to varying degrees.