Wieser Matthias J, Pauli Paul, Alpers Georg W, Mühlberger Andreas
University of Würzburg, Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Germany.
J Anxiety Disord. 2009 Jan;23(1):93-103. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2008.04.004. Epub 2008 May 2.
The effects of direct and averted gaze on autonomic arousal and gaze behavior in social anxiety were investigated using a new paradigm including animated movie stimuli and eye-tracking methodology. While high, medium, and low socially anxious (HSA vs. MSA vs. LSA) women watched animated movie clips, in which faces responded to the gaze of the participants with either direct or averted gaze, their eye movements, heart rate (HR) and skin conductance responses (SCR) were continuously recorded. Groups did not differ in their gaze behavior concerning direct vs. averted gaze, but high socially anxious women tended to fixate the eye region of the presented face longer than MSA and LSA, respectively. Furthermore, they responded to direct gaze with more pronounced cardiac acceleration. This physiological finding indicates that direct gaze may be a fear-relevant feature for socially anxious individuals in social interaction. However, this seems not to result in gaze avoidance. Future studies should examine the role of gaze direction and its interaction with facial expressions in social anxiety and its consequences for avoidance behavior and fear responses. Additionally, further research is needed to clarify the role of gaze perception in social anxiety.
采用一种包括动画电影刺激和眼动追踪方法的新范式，研究了直接注视和回避注视对社交焦虑中自主唤醒和注视行为的影响。在高、中、低社交焦虑（高社交焦虑组与中社交焦虑组与低社交焦虑组）的女性观看动画电影片段时，其中面部会以直接注视或回避注视回应参与者的注视，同时持续记录她们的眼动、心率（HR）和皮肤电反应（SCR）。在关于直接注视与回避注视的注视行为方面，各组之间没有差异，但高社交焦虑的女性分别比中社交焦虑组和低社交焦虑组更倾向于更长时间地注视呈现面部的眼睛区域。此外，她们对直接注视的反应是心脏加速更为明显。这一生理学发现表明，直接注视可能是社交焦虑个体在社交互动中与恐惧相关的特征。然而，这似乎并不会导致注视回避。未来的研究应该考察注视方向的作用及其与面部表情在社交焦虑中的相互作用，以及其对回避行为和恐惧反应的影响。此外，还需要进一步研究来阐明注视感知在社交焦虑中的作用。
