Recently, the literature on eye gaze has been more focused on face-to-face eye gaze, rather than traditional photos/videos presented in the laboratory, which have revealed some important differences (for reviews, see Risko et al., 2012 Canigueral and Hamilton, 2019). In adults, looking at a photo of a person with direct gaze results in quicker processing of the face, as demonstrated by faster face detection ( Senju et al., 2005) and facial gender discrimination accuracy ( Macrae et al., 2002), compared to photos of averted gaze. This attention-capturing effect of gaze has been observed from birth, with neonates preferring direct gaze over averted gaze of their mothers ( Farroni et al., 2002 Senju and Csibra, 2008). The high contrast of the eyes also attracts attention due to the complexity of the information the eyes portray. In fact, research has shown that humans are as accurate as 1° of visual angle in determining others’ eye movements ( Anderson et al., 2011). This high contrast between the pupil and sclera makes it easy for others to decipher in which direction the eyes are moving. Indeed, humans have evolved to have eyes that are easily tracked, where our dark pupil is centered on a white sclera ( Kobayashi and Kohshima, 1997). Much research has shown that gaze direction is particularly useful to understand where someone’s attention is focused (e.g., Friesen and Kingstone, 1998 Hietanen, 1999 Frischen et al., 2007 for a review), to predict someone’s behavior and respond accordingly (e.g., avoiding someone walking toward you Pelphrey et al., 2004), and most importantly, to know when the lines of communication are open or closed (e.g., Cary, 1978 Ho et al., 2015, for a review Risko et al., 2012 Canigueral and Hamilton, 2019). Therefore, the arousal enhancement observed during eye contact is not only caused by receiving gaze signals (the focus of previous research) and should be more accurately attributed to the subtle interplay between sending and receiving gaze signals.Įye gaze is a rich source of social information. Once gaze information became degraded (by sunglasses or blindfold), arousal significantly decreased and was no longer modulated by the sending and receiving of gaze. The results showed that dyads exhibited the highest degree of arousal (increased skin conductance) while making eye contact (send/receive) compared to send-only or receive-only gaze trials however, this was only the case if eye contact was clear. Autonomic nervous system arousal was measured via skin conductance response and level. ![]() This study aimed to test this by having dyads engage in eye contact and averted gaze naturally, while wearing sunglasses, and while blindfolded such that the gaze signals were clear, degraded, and blocked, respectively. That is, eye gaze is not only a signal perceived but also a signal sent out in order to communicate with others. Recent research has pointed toward the potential for social interaction as a possible driving force behind the arousal enhancement. Research shows that arousal is significantly enhanced while participants make eye contact with a live person compared to viewing a picture of direct or averted gaze. ![]() Atypical Perception Laboratory, Department of Psychology, MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
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