Louisa Kulke, Sahura Ertugrul, Emely Reyentanz, Vanessa Thomas
{"title":"Uncomfortable staring? Gaze to other people in social situations is inhibited in both infants and adults","authors":"Louisa Kulke, Sahura Ertugrul, Emely Reyentanz, Vanessa Thomas","doi":"10.1111/desc.13468","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div>\n \n \n <section>\n \n <p>People attract infants’ and adults’ gaze when presented on a computer screen. However, in live social situations, adults inhibit their gaze at strangers to avoid sending inappropriate social signals. Such inhibition of gaze has never been directly investigated in infants. The current preregistered study measured gaze and neural responses (EEG alpha power) to a confederate in a live social situation compared to a video of this confederate. Adults looked less at the live confederate than at the video of the confederate, although their neural responses suggest that they were overall equally attentive in both situations. Infants also looked less at the live confederate than at the video of the confederate, with similar neural response patterns. The gaze difference between live social and video situations increased with age. The study shows that young infants are already sensitive to social context and show decreased gaze to strangers in social situations.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Research Highlights</h3>\n \n <div>\n <ul>\n \n <li>This study shows that infants and adults look more at a video of a stranger than at a stranger that is present live in a social situation.</li>\n \n <li>Neural responses suggest that adults are equally attentive in both live and video situations but inhibit their gaze at the stranger in live social situations.</li>\n \n <li>Infants show a similar pattern of shorter gaze at a stranger who is present in person than at a video of this stranger.</li>\n \n <li>The study shows that gaze in infants and adults may diverge from cognitive processes measured through EEG, highlighting the importance of combining behavioural and neural measures in natural interactions.</li>\n </ul>\n </div>\n </section>\n </div>","PeriodicalId":48392,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/desc.13468","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Developmental Science","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/desc.13468","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
People attract infants’ and adults’ gaze when presented on a computer screen. However, in live social situations, adults inhibit their gaze at strangers to avoid sending inappropriate social signals. Such inhibition of gaze has never been directly investigated in infants. The current preregistered study measured gaze and neural responses (EEG alpha power) to a confederate in a live social situation compared to a video of this confederate. Adults looked less at the live confederate than at the video of the confederate, although their neural responses suggest that they were overall equally attentive in both situations. Infants also looked less at the live confederate than at the video of the confederate, with similar neural response patterns. The gaze difference between live social and video situations increased with age. The study shows that young infants are already sensitive to social context and show decreased gaze to strangers in social situations.
Research Highlights
This study shows that infants and adults look more at a video of a stranger than at a stranger that is present live in a social situation.
Neural responses suggest that adults are equally attentive in both live and video situations but inhibit their gaze at the stranger in live social situations.
Infants show a similar pattern of shorter gaze at a stranger who is present in person than at a video of this stranger.
The study shows that gaze in infants and adults may diverge from cognitive processes measured through EEG, highlighting the importance of combining behavioural and neural measures in natural interactions.
期刊介绍:
Developmental Science publishes cutting-edge theory and up-to-the-minute research on scientific developmental psychology from leading thinkers in the field. It is currently the only journal that specifically focuses on human developmental cognitive neuroscience. Coverage includes: - Clinical, computational and comparative approaches to development - Key advances in cognitive and social development - Developmental cognitive neuroscience - Functional neuroimaging of the developing brain