The widening of the gaze cone in patients with social anxiety disorder and its normalization after CBT

Harbort, Johannes; Witthöft, Michael; Spiegel, Julia; Nick, Kira; Hecht, Heiko

doi:10.1016/j.brat.2013.03.009

Cited by 33 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…In the “cone of gaze” paradigm individuals with SAD and non-clinical controls were asked to rotate the eyes of a virtual head that were initially looking at them to the point when they felt the eyes were about to stop looking at them. People with SAD showed a wider cone of gaze than non-clinical controls [6], [7]. This difference was also present when a real actor was used instead of a virtual head.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…This difference was also present when a real actor was used instead of a virtual head. After a course of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), the difference in cone of gaze between individuals with SAD and non-clinical controls was no longer statistically significant [7]. Although the cone of gaze paradigm shows that under some circumstances people with SAD are more likely to think they are being looked at by another person, its ecological validity is somewhat restricted.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Faces in a Crowd: High Socially Anxious Individuals Estimate that More People Are Looking at Them than Low Socially Anxious Individuals

2014

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BackgroundPeople with social anxiety disorder are afraid of being scrutinized by others and often feel that they are the excessive focus of other people's attention. This study investigated whether, when compared to low socially anxious individuals, high socially anxious individuals overestimate the proportion of people in a crowd who are observing them. It was hypothesized that any potential overestimation would be modulated by self-focused attention.MethodForty-eight high and 48 low socially anxious participants performed a “faces in a crowd” computer task during which they briefly saw matrices of faces, which varied in terms of the proportion of people who were looking at them. Participants estimated the proportion of people who were looking at them. The task was performed once with mirrors present (to induce an enhanced self-focused state) and once without mirrors present (neutral state).ResultsParticipants' subjective estimates and the objective proportion of faces looking towards them were strongly correlated in both the high and low socially anxious groups. However, high socially anxious participants estimated that more people were looking at them than low socially anxious participants. In the first phase of the experiment, but not in the later phases, this effect was magnified in the mirror condition.DiscussionThis study provides preliminary evidence of a social anxiety related perceptual difference that may be amplified by self-focused attention. Clinical implications are discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Faces in a Crowd: High Socially Anxious Individuals Estimate that More People Are Looking at Them than Low Socially Anxious Individuals

2014

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“…A recent study showed a positive, linear relationship between self-reported social anxiety and stronger self-directed perception of others’ gaze directions (Schulze et al, 2013). And the CoDG for socially anxious individuals was wider than in normal controls when a second person was present (Gamer et al, 2011; Harbort et al, 2013). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Trait Anxiety Impacts the Perceived Gaze Direction of Fearful But Not Angry Faces

Gendron

Liu

et al. 2017

Front. Psychol.

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Facial expression and gaze direction play an important role in social communication. Previous research has demonstrated the perception of anger is enhanced by direct gaze, whereas, it is unclear whether perception of fear is enhanced by averted gaze. In addition, previous research has shown the anxiety affects the processing of facial expression and gaze direction, but hasn’t measured or controlled for depression. As a result, firm conclusions cannot be made regarding the impact of individual differences in anxiety and depression on perceptions of face expressions and gaze direction. The current study attempted to reexamine the effect of the anxiety level on the processing of facial expressions and gaze direction by matching participants on depression scores. A reliable psychophysical index of the range of eye gaze angles judged as being directed at oneself [the cone of direct gaze (CoDG)] was used as the dependent variable in this study. Participants were stratified into high/low trait anxiety groups and asked to judge the gaze of angry, fearful, and neutral faces across a range of gaze directions. The result showed: (1) the perception of gaze direction was influenced by facial expression and this was modulated by trait anxiety. For the high trait anxiety group, the CoDG for angry expressions was wider than for fearful and neutral expressions, and no significant difference emerged between fearful and neutral expressions; For the low trait anxiety group, the CoDG for both angry and fearful expressions was wider than for neutral, and no significant difference emerged between angry and fearful expressions. (2) Trait anxiety modulated the perception of gaze direction only in the fearful condition, such that the fearful CoDG for the high trait anxiety group was narrower than the low trait anxiety group. This demonstrated that anxiety distinctly affected gaze perception in expressions that convey threat (angry, fearful), such that a high trait anxiety level modulated the impact of indirectly threatening expressions (fearful), and did not influence responses to directly threatening expression (angry). These findings partially support the shared signal hypothesis.

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“…Through a web-based approach, another study showed a positive relationship between social anxiety and the direct gaze judgment: individuals with higher social anxiety scores had a stronger feeling to be looked at by others (Schulze et al, 2013). There is even evidence that, in participants with social anxiety disorder, the reduction of social anxiety symptoms as a result of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is accompanied by decrease of the width of gaze cone (Harbort et al, 2013). Thus, social anxiety may have played an important, modulatory role in gaze perception in Experiment 1.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eye Contact Judgment Is Influenced by Perceivers’ Social Anxiety But Not by Their Affective State

2017

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Fast and accurate judgment of whether another person is making eye contact or not is crucial for our social interaction. As affective states have been shown to influence social perceptions and judgments, we investigated the influence of observers’ own affective states and trait anxiety on their eye contact judgments. In two experiments, participants were required to judge whether animated faces (Experiment 1) and real faces (Experiment 2) with varying gaze angles were looking at them or not. Participants performed the task in pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant odor conditions. The results from two experiments showed that eye contact judgments were not modulated by observers’ affective state, yet participants with higher levels of social anxiety accepted a wider range of gaze deviations from the direct gaze as eye contact. We conclude that gaze direction judgments depend on individual differences in affective predispositions, yet they are not amenable to situational affective influences.

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The widening of the gaze cone in patients with social anxiety disorder and its normalization after CBT

Cited by 33 publications

References 43 publications

Faces in a Crowd: High Socially Anxious Individuals Estimate that More People Are Looking at Them than Low Socially Anxious Individuals

Faces in a Crowd: High Socially Anxious Individuals Estimate that More People Are Looking at Them than Low Socially Anxious Individuals

Trait Anxiety Impacts the Perceived Gaze Direction of Fearful But Not Angry Faces

Eye Contact Judgment Is Influenced by Perceivers’ Social Anxiety But Not by Their Affective State

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