Effects of emotional content on social inhibition of gaze in live social and non-social situations

Kulke L, Borges Bastos Pasqualette LB (2023)


Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2023

Journal

Book Volume: 13

Article Number: 14151

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-41154-w

Abstract

Abstract: In real-life interactions, it is crucial that humans adequately respond to others’ emotional expressions. Emotion perception so far has mainly been studied in highly controlled laboratory tasks. However, recent research suggests that attention and gaze behaviour significantly differ between watching a person on a controlled laboratory screen compared to in real world interactions. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate effects of emotional expression on participants’ gaze in social and non-social situations. We compared looking behaviour towards a confederate showing positive, neutral or negative facial expressions between live social and non-social waiting room situations. Participants looked more often and longer to the confederate on the screen, than when physically present in the room. Expressions displayed by the confederate and individual traits (social anxiety and autistic traits) of participants did not reliably relate to gaze behaviour. Indications of covert attention also occurred more often and longer during the non-social, than during the social condition. Findings indicate that social norm is a strong factor modulating gaze behaviour in social contexts. Protocol registration: The stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on September 13, 2021. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16628290 .

Authors with CRIS profile

How to cite

APA:

Kulke, L., & Borges Bastos Pasqualette, L.B. (2023). Effects of emotional content on social inhibition of gaze in live social and non-social situations. Scientific Reports, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41154-w

MLA:

Kulke, Louisa, and Laura Beatriz Borges Bastos Pasqualette. "Effects of emotional content on social inhibition of gaze in live social and non-social situations." Scientific Reports 13.1 (2023).

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