Gaze Display When Thinking Depends on Culture and Context

Abstract

In three experiments, the roles of culture and social factors in individual's eye gaze displays when thinking were examined. Canadian and Japanese participants answered questions requiring thinking to derive the answers in social and nonsocial contexts. Canadian participants looked up when thinking but only when they were aware of being observed. They looked down when they knew they could not be seen. In contrast, Japanese participants looked down when thinking even when they knew they were being observed. These results are inconsistent with the view that eye movement patterns when thinking are driven solely by endogenous brain activities and consistent with the view that thinking-related gaze behaviors are modulated by cultural display rules and social contexts.

Cultural background modulates how we look at other persons’ gaze

“…Another possibility is that Eastern Asians look more to the eyes when the face is expressive, but fixate centrally when they observe faces with neutral expression. Moreover, Japanese participants did not show shorter eye fixation than British participants, which is consistent with some studies (e.g., Jack et al, 2009) but not with others (McCarthy et al, 2006, 2008). Further studies will be required to test whether the shorter face gaze could be observed in Eastern Asian participants in more naturalistic settings.…”

“…First, a series of studies (McCarthy, Lee, Itakura, & Muir, 2006, 2008) reported that Canadian participants maintain longer eye contact with an interviewer than Japanese participants when they answer cognitively demanding questions. In these studies, the gaze direction of the participants were analysed from the video recording.…”

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].…”

Looking to relate: teacher gaze and culture in student-rated teacher interpersonal behaviour

“…Whereas 'I am knowing' (i.e., assertive or confident) is signalled by sustained direct gaze among Westerners (i.e., Canadians), it is signalled by shorter direct gaze among East Asians (i.e., Japanese, McCarthy et al 2006). In contrast, the message, 'I am thinking' (i.e., uncertainty or lack of confidence), is signalled by upward, averted gaze among Westerners and downward, averted gaze among East Asians (McCarthy et al 2008). Furthermore, direct gaze is interpreted as being more unpleasant by East Asians than by their Western counterparts, such that anger and unapproachability are detected from direct gaze only by East Asian participants .…”