Proximity and gaze influences facial temperature: a thermal infrared imaging study

Abstract

Direct gaze and interpersonal proximity are known to lead to changes in psycho-physiology, behavior and brain function. We know little, however, about subtler facial reactions such as rise and fall in temperature, which may be sensitive to contextual effects and functional in social interactions. Using thermal infrared imaging cameras 18 female adult participants were filmed at two interpersonal distances (intimate and social) and two gaze conditions (averted and direct). The order of variation in distance was counterbalanced: half the participants experienced a female experimenter's gaze at the social distance first before the intimate distance (a socially “normal” order) and half experienced the intimate distance first and then the social distance (an odd social order). At both distances averted gaze always preceded direct gaze. We found strong correlations in thermal changes between six areas of the face (forehead, chin, cheeks, nose, maxilliary, and periorbital regions) for all experimental conditions and developed a composite measure of thermal shifts for all analyses. Interpersonal proximity led to a thermal rise, but only in the “normal” social order. Direct gaze, compared to averted gaze, led to a thermal increase at both distances with a stronger effect at intimate distance, in both orders of distance variation. Participants reported direct gaze as more intrusive than averted gaze, especially at the intimate distance. These results demonstrate the powerful effects of another person's gaze on psycho-physiological responses, even at a distance and independent of context.

The mental nose and the Pinocchio effect: Thermography, planning, anxiety, and lies

“…According to the emotions theory developed by Lang, Bradley, and Cuthbert (2005), valence and arousal are the key factors in this field. Previous studies (Ioannou, Morris, et al, 2014;(Salazar-López et al, 2015)) suggest that positive images increase facial temperature whereas negative images lower it. However, for the arousal effect on facial temperature, previous studies showed incongruent results as we described in the introduction.…”

“…This lower nose temperature has been related to stress and increased sympathetic activity. However, in other studies, high arousal has been associated with increased nose temperature also in the case of negative emotions, lie detection, mental effort, crying, ostracism, or direct gaze (Ioannou, Morris, Baker, & Gallese, 2016;Ioannou, Morris, et al, 2014;Panasiti et al, 2016;Paolini, Alparone, Cardone, van Beest, & Merla, 2016). Different authors frequently related this thermal effect (the augmented nose temperature) to a complex autonomic interaction between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems or to residual effects probably due to a withdrawal of the sympathetic alpha-adrenergic vasoconstriction effect (Ebisch et al, 2012;Ioannou et al, 2016;Moliné et al, 2017;Tyler et al, 2015).…”

(Simulated) listener gaze in real‐time spoken interaction

“…Previous research on interaction behavior and gaze aversion in interactions has shown that conversational partners usually gaze at each other to see whether the partner follows the conversation and avert their gaze in order to regulate the conversation's level of intimacy . Similarly, prolonged eye contact is assumed to be perceived as threatening or aggressive, and staring at a conversational partner's face over a longer span of time thus carries negative connotations . This might have motivated the participants to fixate on the background as well, instead of only fixating on the relevant object and the agent.…”

Thermal facial reactivity patterns predict social categorization bias triggered by unconscious and conscious emotional stimuli

“…Levine et al [6], for example, reported rapid (300 ms) periorbital warming and cheek cooling after a fright response caused by a sudden, strong noise; this startle-induced thermal signature is mediated by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). More complex emotions are driven by ostracism [10], guilt [11], social [12] and gaze contact [13], & 2017 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.…”