Center for Evaluation and Treatment of Anxiety, Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA.
Depress Anxiety. 2013 Aug;30(8):749-56. doi: 10.1002/da.22146. Epub 2013 Jun 24.
The relationship between gaze avoidance and social anxiety has been examined previously using eye-tracking and static social images. Overall, findings to date highlight increased gaze avoidance as a behavioral marker of social anxiety. The purpose of the present study was to better elucidate the relationship between gaze avoidance and social anxiety disorder (SAD) symptoms via covert eye tracking of gaze tendencies in response to a dynamic computerized social interaction simulation. On the basis of the bivalent fear of evaluation (BFOE) model of social anxiety,([1]) it was expected that participants with SAD, compared to nonsocially anxious control (NSAC) participants, would exhibit gaze avoidance in response to both positive and negative social feedback.
Participants with SAD (n = 20), and a sample of demographically equivalent NSAC (n = 19), were administered clinical diagnostic interviews and a computerized social simulation task. The simulation task consisted of viewing 26 dynamic videos (13 positive and 13 negative), each 12 s in duration. All participants were covertly eye tracked during the simulation.
SAD participants exhibited greater global gaze avoidance in response to both the positive and negative video clips in comparison to the controls. Moreover, the SAD group exhibited equivalent gaze avoidance in response to stimuli of both emotional valences.
These results provide additional support for gaze avoidance as a behavioral marker of SAD, as well as additional support for the BFOE model. Implications for the assessment of SAD are discussed.
先前已经使用眼动追踪和静态社交图像研究了目光回避与社交焦虑之间的关系。总的来说，迄今为止的研究结果强调了目光回避作为社交焦虑的行为标记的增加。本研究的目的是通过对动态计算机化社交互动模拟中注视倾向的隐蔽眼动追踪，更好地阐明目光回避与社交焦虑障碍（SAD）症状之间的关系。基于社交焦虑的双重恐惧评估（BFOE）模型，([1]) 预计与非社交焦虑对照（NSAC）参与者相比，SAD 参与者在对正性和负性社交反馈时会表现出目光回避。
对 20 名 SAD 参与者（n = 20）和一组具有相似人口统计学特征的 NSAC 参与者（n = 19）进行了临床诊断访谈和计算机化社交模拟任务。模拟任务包括观看 26 个动态视频（13 个正性和 13 个负性），每个视频持续 12 秒。所有参与者在模拟过程中均被隐蔽地眼动追踪。
与对照组相比，SAD 参与者在对正性和负性视频片段时表现出更大的整体目光回避。此外，SAD 组在对两种情绪效价的刺激时表现出相等的目光回避。
这些结果为目光回避作为 SAD 的行为标记提供了额外的支持，也为 BFOE 模型提供了额外的支持。讨论了对 SAD 的评估的影响。
