Social anxiety is associated with heart rate but not gaze behavior in a real social interaction.
Eye gaze
Gaze perception
Heart rate
Heart rate variability
Skin conductance level
Social anxiety
Journal
Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry
ISSN: 1873-7943
Titre abrégé: J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 0245075
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
03 2021
03 2021
Historique:
received:
09
01
2020
revised:
26
06
2020
accepted:
07
07
2020
pubmed:
4
9
2020
medline:
25
8
2021
entrez:
4
9
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Much of our current understanding of social anxiety rests on the use of highly restricted laboratory experiments. Latest technological developments now allow the investigation of eye movements and physiological measures during real social interactions. Considering the wealth of conflicting findings on gaze behavior in social anxiety, the current study aimed at elucidating the modulation of gaze patterns in a naturalistic setting. We introduced 71 participants with differing social anxiety symptoms to a waiting room situation while recording heart rate, electrodermal activity and eye movements using mobile technology. We observed fewer fixations on the head of the confederate in the initial waiting phase of the experiment. These head fixations increased when the confederate was involved in a phone call and subsequently initiated an actual conversation. Contrary to gaze-avoidance models of social anxiety, we did not observe any correlations between social anxiety and visual attention but an elevated heart rate in participants with high social anxiety. Although social anxiety varied considerably in the current sample and reached clinically relevant levels in one third of participants, formal clinical diagnoses were not available. The current findings suggest that gaze avoidance might only occur in specific situations or very high levels of social anxiety. Fear of eye contact could at times represent a subjectively experienced rather than an objectively measurable feature of the disorder. The observation of elevated heart rate throughout the entire experiment indicates that physiological hyperactivity might constitute a cardinal feature of social anxiety.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Much of our current understanding of social anxiety rests on the use of highly restricted laboratory experiments. Latest technological developments now allow the investigation of eye movements and physiological measures during real social interactions. Considering the wealth of conflicting findings on gaze behavior in social anxiety, the current study aimed at elucidating the modulation of gaze patterns in a naturalistic setting.
METHODS
We introduced 71 participants with differing social anxiety symptoms to a waiting room situation while recording heart rate, electrodermal activity and eye movements using mobile technology.
RESULTS
We observed fewer fixations on the head of the confederate in the initial waiting phase of the experiment. These head fixations increased when the confederate was involved in a phone call and subsequently initiated an actual conversation. Contrary to gaze-avoidance models of social anxiety, we did not observe any correlations between social anxiety and visual attention but an elevated heart rate in participants with high social anxiety.
LIMITATIONS
Although social anxiety varied considerably in the current sample and reached clinically relevant levels in one third of participants, formal clinical diagnoses were not available.
CONCLUSIONS
The current findings suggest that gaze avoidance might only occur in specific situations or very high levels of social anxiety. Fear of eye contact could at times represent a subjectively experienced rather than an objectively measurable feature of the disorder. The observation of elevated heart rate throughout the entire experiment indicates that physiological hyperactivity might constitute a cardinal feature of social anxiety.
Identifiants
pubmed: 32882674
pii: S0005-7916(20)30010-0
doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2020.101600
pmc: PMC7689581
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
101600Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
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