Attention to faces and gaze-following in social anxiety: preliminary evidence from a naturalistic eye-tracking investigation

Gregory, Nicola; Bolderston, Helen; Antolin, Jastine V.

doi:10.1080/02699931.2018.1519497

Cited by 14 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 72 publications

(124 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, our data suggest that gaze-following is an attentional process that is unaffected by SA, even for expressions that could be perceived as threatening to high-SA participants (e.g., anger). Our findings align with those of Gregory et al (2019), who found that those with SA do not show differences in overt gaze-following behaviour compared with a control group; however, we have extended this finding to the gaze-cueing paradigm, which can capture covert shifts of attention. In showing that this lack of modulation extends to gaze cueing by angry expressions, for which a range of attentional biases in SA have been demonstrated (e.g., Mogg et al, 2004), we have also extended the findings of Gregory and Jackson (2017), Wei et al (2019), and Boll et al (2016), who used only neutral expressions.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…However, these studies only employed gaze cues with neutral expressions; the lack of a socially threatening context could therefore explain the absence of any modulation. Recently, Gregory et al (2019) examined overt gaze following in a low-SA group and a high-SA group. These authors found no differences between the groups in the frequency of gaze-elicited eye movements, but again, only neutral expressions were used; furthermore, it is possible that differences might only manifest in covert attentional shifts (i.e., those occurring without eye movements), given that socially anxious individuals are especially conscious of how they appear to others (Hope & Heimberg, 1988).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Examining the effects of social anxiety and other individual differences on gaze-directed attentional shifts

Talipski

Bell

Goodhew

et al. 2020

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Gaze direction is a powerful social cue, and there is considerable evidence that we preferentially direct our attentional resources to gaze-congruent locations. While a number of individual differences have been claimed to modulate gaze-cueing effects (e.g., trait anxiety), the modulation of gaze cueing for different emotional expressions of the cue has not been investigated in social anxiety, which is characterised by a range of attentional biases for stimuli perceived to be socially threatening (e.g., Mansell et al., 1999). Therefore, in this study, we examined whether social anxiety modulates gaze-cueing effects for angry, fearful, and neutral expressions, while controlling for other individual-differences variables that may modulate gaze cueing: trait anxiety, depression, and autistic-like traits. In a sample of 100 female participants, we obtained large and reliable gaze-cueing effects; however, these effects were not modulated by social anxiety, or by any of the other individual-differences variables. These findings attest to the social importance of gaze cueing, and also call into question the replicability of individual differences in the effect.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the effects of social anxiety and other individual differences on gaze-directed attentional shifts

Talipski

Bell

Goodhew

et al. 2020

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Importantly, this avoidance was only found during the actual performance of the speech. Not only are such findings consistent with previous public speaking studies conducted with community samples (Farabee et al, 1993;Lowe et al, 2012), but they are also in line with studies reporting no effects of social anxiety in community samples during face viewing (e.g., Berdica et al, 2018;Gregory et al, 2019;Mühlberger et al, 2008;Waechter et al, 2014). The findings extend previous research by providing direct evidence, within the same sample, that visual avoidance of faces in HSA persons depends on the type of social situation.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Visual avoidance of faces in socially anxious individuals: The moderating effect of type of social situation

Chen

Bos

Velthuizen

et al. 2021

Journal of Experimental Psychopathology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Patients with social anxiety disorder appear to display aberrant gaze behavior across a variety of social situations. In contrast, the gaze behavior of high socially anxious (HSA) individuals from the community seems to depend on the type of situation and the aberration might be limited to gaze avoidance. This study investigated the differential effect of social situation—a face-viewing task and a public speaking task—on gaze behavior in HSA participants from a community sample. Participants’ eye movements were tracked using a wearable eye tracker. Two aspects of gaze behavior were measured: (1) gaze avoidance was assessed by total fixation time, fixation counts, and mean fixation time on faces; (2) hypervigilance was assessed by scan path length and mean distance between fixations. The results confirmed a moderating effect of task on total (though not mean) fixation time on faces and fixation counts. Compared to low socially anxious participants, HSA participants looked less frequently (hence shorter) at the audience during the speech only. This indicates that visual avoidance in HSA individuals does not occur by default, but only when risks of (negative) social consequences are perceived. High and low socially anxious participants showed no difference in hypervigilance in either situation.

show abstract

“…This evidence challenges previous studies showing that autistic participants use eye gaze similarly to typical individuals during a live Q&A task (Freeth & Bugembe, 2019; Vabalas & Freeth, 2016; Von dem Hagen & Bright, 2017 Experiment 2), or that they spend less time looking at a live confederate (Hessels et al, 2018; Von dem Hagen & Bright, 2017 Experiment 2). Interestingly, two recent studies have found that participants with high social anxiety traits look earlier and more to faces at the start of the interaction, compared to participants with low social anxiety traits (Gregory et al, 2019; Gutiérrez-García et al, 2019). The authors suggest that this attentional bias could reflect compensation strategies to anticipate negative evaluations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of being watched on eye gaze and facial displays of typical and autistic individuals during conversation

Cañigueral

Ward

Hamilton

2020

Autism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Communication with others relies on coordinated exchanges of social signals, such as eye gaze and facial displays. However, this can only happen when partners are able to see each other. Although previous studies report that autistic individuals have difficulties in planning eye gaze and making facial displays during conversation, evidence from real-life dyadic tasks is scarce and mixed. Across two studies, here we investigate how eye gaze and facial displays of typical and high-functioning autistic individuals are modulated by the belief in being seen and potential to show true gaze direction. Participants were recorded with an eye-tracking and video-camera system while they completed a structured Q&A task with a confederate under three social contexts: pre-recorded video, video-call and face-to-face. Typical participants gazed less to the confederate and produced more facial displays when they were being watched and when they were speaking. Contrary to our hypotheses, eye gaze and facial motion patterns in autistic participants were overall similar to the typical group. This suggests that high-functioning autistic participants are able to use eye gaze and facial displays as social signals. Future studies will need to investigate to what extent this reflects spontaneous behaviour or the use of compensation strategies. Lay abstract When we are communicating with other people, we exchange a variety of social signals through eye gaze and facial expressions. However, coordinated exchanges of these social signals can only happen when people involved in the interaction are able to see each other. Although previous studies report that autistic individuals have difficulties in using eye gaze and facial expressions during social interactions, evidence from tasks that involve real face-to-face conversations is scarce and mixed. Here, we investigate how eye gaze and facial expressions of typical and high-functioning autistic individuals are modulated by the belief in being seen by another person, and by being in a face-to-face interaction. Participants were recorded with an eye-tracking and video-camera system while they completed a structured Q&A task with a confederate under three social contexts: pre-recorded video (no belief in being seen, no face-to-face), video-call (belief in being seen, no face-to-face) and face-to-face (belief in being seen and face-to-face). Typical participants gazed less to the confederate and made more facial expressions when they were being watched and when they were speaking. Contrary to our hypotheses, eye gaze and facial expression patterns in autistic participants were overall similar to the typical group. This suggests that high-functioning autistic participants are able to use eye gaze and facial expressions as social signals. Future studies will need to investigate to what extent this reflects spontaneous behaviour or the use of compensation strategies.

show abstract

Attention to faces and gaze-following in social anxiety: preliminary evidence from a naturalistic eye-tracking investigation

Cited by 14 publications

References 72 publications

Examining the effects of social anxiety and other individual differences on gaze-directed attentional shifts

Examining the effects of social anxiety and other individual differences on gaze-directed attentional shifts

Visual avoidance of faces in socially anxious individuals: The moderating effect of type of social situation

Effects of being watched on eye gaze and facial displays of typical and autistic individuals during conversation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About