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Is eye to eye contact really threatening and avoided in social anxiety?--An eye-tracking and psychophysiology study.
J Anxiety Disord. 2009 Jan; 23(1):93-103.JA

Abstract

The effects of direct and averted gaze on autonomic arousal and gaze behavior in social anxiety were investigated using a new paradigm including animated movie stimuli and eye-tracking methodology. While high, medium, and low socially anxious (HSA vs. MSA vs. LSA) women watched animated movie clips, in which faces responded to the gaze of the participants with either direct or averted gaze, their eye movements, heart rate (HR) and skin conductance responses (SCR) were continuously recorded. Groups did not differ in their gaze behavior concerning direct vs. averted gaze, but high socially anxious women tended to fixate the eye region of the presented face longer than MSA and LSA, respectively. Furthermore, they responded to direct gaze with more pronounced cardiac acceleration. This physiological finding indicates that direct gaze may be a fear-relevant feature for socially anxious individuals in social interaction. However, this seems not to result in gaze avoidance. Future studies should examine the role of gaze direction and its interaction with facial expressions in social anxiety and its consequences for avoidance behavior and fear responses. Additionally, further research is needed to clarify the role of gaze perception in social anxiety.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Wieser MJ
University of Würzburg, Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Germany. weiser@psychologie.uni-wuerzburg.de
Pauli P
No affiliation info available
Alpers GW
No affiliation info available
Mühlberger A
No affiliation info available

MeSH

Eye MovementsFacial ExpressionFearFemaleFixation, OcularGalvanic Skin ResponseHeart RateHumansMalePhobic DisordersVisual PerceptionYoung Adult

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

18534814

Citation

Wieser, Matthias J., et al. "Is Eye to Eye Contact Really Threatening and Avoided in Social anxiety?--An Eye-tracking and Psychophysiology Study." Journal of Anxiety Disorders, vol. 23, no. 1, 2009, pp. 93-103.
Wieser MJ, Pauli P, Alpers GW, et al. Is eye to eye contact really threatening and avoided in social anxiety?--An eye-tracking and psychophysiology study. J Anxiety Disord. 2009;23(1):93-103.
Wieser, M. J., Pauli, P., Alpers, G. W., & Mühlberger, A. (2009). Is eye to eye contact really threatening and avoided in social anxiety?--An eye-tracking and psychophysiology study. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 23(1), 93-103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2008.04.004
Wieser MJ, et al. Is Eye to Eye Contact Really Threatening and Avoided in Social anxiety?--An Eye-tracking and Psychophysiology Study. J Anxiety Disord. 2009;23(1):93-103. PubMed PMID: 18534814.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Is eye to eye contact really threatening and avoided in social anxiety?--An eye-tracking and psychophysiology study. AU - Wieser,Matthias J, AU - Pauli,Paul, AU - Alpers,Georg W, AU - Mühlberger,Andreas, Y1 - 2008/05/02/ PY - 2007/08/22/received PY - 2008/04/18/revised PY - 2008/04/18/accepted PY - 2008/6/7/entrez PY - 2008/6/7/pubmed PY - 2009/4/30/medline SP - 93 EP - 103 JF - Journal of anxiety disorders JO - J Anxiety Disord VL - 23 IS - 1 N2 - The effects of direct and averted gaze on autonomic arousal and gaze behavior in social anxiety were investigated using a new paradigm including animated movie stimuli and eye-tracking methodology. While high, medium, and low socially anxious (HSA vs. MSA vs. LSA) women watched animated movie clips, in which faces responded to the gaze of the participants with either direct or averted gaze, their eye movements, heart rate (HR) and skin conductance responses (SCR) were continuously recorded. Groups did not differ in their gaze behavior concerning direct vs. averted gaze, but high socially anxious women tended to fixate the eye region of the presented face longer than MSA and LSA, respectively. Furthermore, they responded to direct gaze with more pronounced cardiac acceleration. This physiological finding indicates that direct gaze may be a fear-relevant feature for socially anxious individuals in social interaction. However, this seems not to result in gaze avoidance. Future studies should examine the role of gaze direction and its interaction with facial expressions in social anxiety and its consequences for avoidance behavior and fear responses. Additionally, further research is needed to clarify the role of gaze perception in social anxiety. SN - 0887-6185 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/18534814/Is_eye_to_eye_contact_really_threatening_and_avoided_in_social_anxiety__An_eye_tracking_and_psychophysiology_study_ L2 - https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0887-6185(08)00097-2 DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -