No evidence that gaze anxiety predicts gaze avoidance behavior during face-to-face social interaction

Abstract

Eye contact is an indispensable social signal, yet for some individuals it is also a source of discomfort they fear and avoid. However, it is still unknown whether gaze anxiety actually produces avoidant gaze behavior in naturalistic, face-to-face interactions. Here, we relied on a novel dual eye-tracking setup that allows us to assess interactive gaze behavior. To investigate the effect of gaze anxiety on gaze behavior, we a priori created groups of participants reporting high or low levels of gaze anxiety. These participants (n = 51) then performed a semi-standardized interaction with a previously unknown individual reporting a medium level of gaze anxiety. The gaze behavior of both groups did not differ in either classical one-way, eye-tracking parameters (e.g. unilateral eye gaze), or interactive, two-way ones (e.g. mutual gaze). Furthermore, the subjective ratings of both participants’ interaction did not differ between groups. Gaze anxious individuals seem to exhibit normal gaze behavior which does not hamper the perceived quality of interactions in a naturalistic face-to-face setup. Our findings point to the existence of cognitive distortions in gaze anxious individuals whose exterior behavior might be less affected than feared by their interior anxiety.

Influence of autistic traits and communication role on eye contact behavior during face-to-face interaction

“…Also, we wanted to see if our novel system could be used to corroborate previous results of eye contact characteristics related to difficulties associated with autism and autistic traits. We finally also specifically explored gaze patterns as a function of participants’ self-reported eye contact discomfort with this novel system, since prior research 19 , 44 , 45 has revealed mixed findings regarding this association.…”

“…These findings underscore the importance of considering not only individual differences in autistic traits but also contextual factors related to the communicative role when unraveling the complexities of eye gaze in face-to-face communication. Another study investigated the impact of so-called gaze anxiety, characterized by avoidant gaze behaviour 18 , 19 . That study, however, did not find a relationship between gaze anxiety and behavioral evidence of gaze avoidance in face-to-face interaction 19 .…”

“…Another study investigated the impact of so-called gaze anxiety, characterized by avoidant gaze behaviour 18 , 19 . That study, however, did not find a relationship between gaze anxiety and behavioral evidence of gaze avoidance in face-to-face interaction 19 . Besides a need for replication of these findings, the relationship between eye contact discomfort and conversational role in the discourse was not specifically explored in that study.…”

The robustness of individual differences in gaze preferences toward faces and eyes across face-to-face experimental designs and its relation to social anxiety

“…Furthermore, the tendency to look at eyes and the face seems to be related to social related traits, such as social anxiety, autism, and neuroticism. However, the nature of this relation is still not clear due to mixed results when considering social anxiety ( Chen, van den Bos, Velthuizen, & Westenberg, 2020 , Chen, van den Bos, Karch, & Westenberg, 2022 ; Tönsing et al, 2022 ), autism traits ( Hessels, Holleman, Cornelissen, Hooge, & Kemner, 2018 ; Vabalas & Freeth, 2016 ), and neuroticism ( Harrison, Binetti, Coutrot, Johnston, & Mareschal, 2018 ; Perlman et al, 2009 ; Simplicio et al, 2014 ) within neurotypical populations.…”

The robustness of individual differences in gaze preferences towards faces and eyes across experimental designs and its relation to social anxiety

“…The amount of time observers look directly at others' eyes and face seems to be related to their social related traits, such as social anxiety, autism and neuroticism. However, the nature of this relation is still not clear due to mixed results when considering social anxiety (Chen et al, 2020(Chen et al, , 2022Tönsing et al, 2022) autism traits (Vabalas & Freeth, 2016;Hessels et al, 2018) and neuroticism (Perlman et al, 2009;Simplicio et al, 2014;Harrison et al, 2018) within neurotypical populations. These discrepancies might be a result of few differences between studies.…”