10.5061/DRYAD.DK51C
Binetti, Nicola
University College London
Harrison, Charlotte
University College London
Coutrot, Antoine
University College London
Johnston, Alan
University College London
Mareschal, Isabelle
Queen Mary University of London
Data from: Pupil dilation as an index of preferred mutual gaze duration
Dryad
dataset
2016
Gaze duration
Eye contact
eye-tracking
arousal
2016-07-05T05:28:48Z
2016-07-05T05:28:48Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086
850158014 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Most animals look at each other to signal threat or interest. In humans,
this social interaction is usually punctuated with brief periods of mutual
eye contact. Deviations from this pattern of gazing behaviour generally
make us feel uncomfortable and are a defining characteristic of clinical
conditions such as autism or schizophrenia, yet it is unclear what
constitutes normal eye contact. Here, we measured, across a wide range of
ages, cultures and personality types, the period of direct gaze that feels
comfortable and examined whether autonomic factors linked to arousal were
indicative of people's preferred amount of eye contact. Surprisingly,
we find that preferred period of gaze duration is not dependent on
fundamental characteristics such as gender, personality traits or
attractiveness. However, we do find that subtle pupillary changes,
indicative of physiological arousal, correlate with the amount of eye
contact people find comfortable. Specifically, people preferring longer
durations of eye contact display faster increases in pupil size when
viewing another person than those preferring shorter durations. These
results reveal that a person's preferred duration of eye contact is
signalled by physiological indices (pupil dilation) beyond volitional
control that may play a modulatory role in gaze behaviour.
raw behavioural and eye tracking datadata.zip