Attention to Eye Contact in the West and East: Autonomic Responses and Evaluative Ratings

Abstract

Eye contact has a fundamental role in human social interaction. The special appearance of the human eye (i.e., white sclera contrasted with a coloured iris) implies the importance of detecting another person's face through eye contact. Empirical studies have demonstrated that faces making eye contact are detected quickly and processed preferentially (i.e., the eye contact effect). Such sensitivity to eye contact seems to be innate and universal among humans; however, several studies suggest that cultural norms affect eye contact behaviours. For example, Japanese individuals exhibit less eye contact than do individuals from Western European or North American cultures. However, how culture modulates eye contact behaviour is unclear. The present study investigated cultural differences in autonomic correlates of attentional orienting (i.e., heart rate) and looking time. Additionally, we examined evaluative ratings of eye contact with another real person, displaying an emotionally neutral expression, between participants from Western European (Finnish) and East Asian (Japanese) cultures. Our results showed that eye contact elicited stronger heart rate deceleration responses (i.e., attentional orienting), shorter looking times, and higher ratings of subjective feelings of arousal as compared to averted gaze in both cultures. Instead, cultural differences in the eye contact effect were observed in various evaluative responses regarding the stimulus faces (e.g., facial emotion, approachability etc.). The rating results suggest that individuals from an East Asian culture perceive another's face as being angrier, unapproachable, and unpleasant when making eye contact as compared to individuals from a Western European culture. The rating results also revealed that gaze direction (direct vs. averted) could influence perceptions about another person's facial affect and disposition. These results suggest that cultural differences in eye contact behaviour emerge from differential display rules and cultural norms, as opposed to culture affecting eye contact behaviour directly at the physiological level.

Cultural Modulation of Face and Gaze Scanning in Young Children

“…They also reported differential effects of stimuli gaze direction upon face gaze behaviour across cultures; British participants were less affected by the gaze shift than Japanese participants, who shifted their fixation to the corresponding gaze direction of the stimulus face. These results are generally consistent with McCarthy et al [16,17], who reported that Caucasian adults tended to hold eye contact with an interviewer for longer durations when answering cognitively demanding questions, while Eastern Asian (Japanese) adults broke eye contact relatively easily in the same situation (but see also 18). Conversely, changes in mouth movements did not affect face gaze in either population in Senju et al [15].…”

Atypical physiological orienting to direct gaze in low‐functioning children with autism spectrum disorder

“…This heart rate deceleration, thought to enhance attentional engagement with the stimulus and cognitive processing of the stimulus information, is affected by stimulus significance (“signal value”), which might have been associated with the stimulus either through innate readiness or learning [Öhman et al, ]. It was shown that direct gaze of another “live” individual triggers a greater heart rate deceleration than averted gaze in typical adult populations [Akechi et al, ; Myllyneva & Hietanen, ]. This deceleration response was also measured in Louwerse et al's [] study, which presented static facial pictures with different gaze directions to high‐functioning adolescents with ASD and typically developing controls.…”

Mentalizing eye contact with a face on a video: Gaze direction does not influence autonomic arousal

“…HR deceleration response is an index of attention orienting to external stimuli (Graham & Clifton, ), amplified by affectively and motivationally salient stimuli (Bradley, ; Lang & Bradley, ). Consistent with behavioral studies showing that direct gaze captures and holds visual attention (e.g., Böckler et al ., ; Conty et al ., , Senju & Hasegawa, ; von Grünau & Anston, ), previous studies have shown enhanced HR deceleration responses to direct versus averted gaze (Akechi et al ., ). However, also this response has been shown to be modulated by the participants' belief of whether the other person can see or cannot see him/her during eye contact (Myllyneva & Hietanen, ).…”

“…For example, direct gaze attracts visual attention (Böckler, van der Wel & Welsh, ; Conty, Tijus, Hugueville, Coelho & George, ; Doi, Ueda & Shikohara, ; Lyyra, Astikainen & Hietanen, ; Senju & Hasegawa, ; von Grünau & Anston, ; for a critical view of visual search studies, see Cooper, Law & Langton, ), and lengthens total viewing times of faces (Palanica & Itier, ; Wieser, Pauli, Alpers & Mühlberger, ). Physiological measurements have shown that, compared to averted gaze, direct gaze induces greater heart rate deceleration responses indicative of attention orienting (Akechi, Senju, Uibo, Kikuchi, Hasegawa & Hietanen, ; Myllyneva & Hietanen, ) and heightened autonomic sympathetic arousal reflecting preparation for action as measured by skin conductance responses (SCR) (Helminen, Kaasinen & Hietanen, ; Hietanen, Leppänen, Peltola, Linna‐Aho & Ruuhiala, ; Nichols & Champness, ).…”