Social anxiety is associated with heart rate but not gaze behavior in a real social interaction.

ABSTRACT:

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. Thes

SUBMITTER: Rosler L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7689581 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature