What is the 'unexpected role' that eye contact plays in advancing conversation?
It is said that moderate eye contact gives a good impression to others, and eye contact is important for smooth conversation. A study of eye contact that occurs in natural conversation reveals an unexpected role that eye contact plays in promoting conversation.
Eye contact marks the rise and fall of shared attention in conversation | PNAS
Making (and breaking) eye contact makes conversation more engaging -- ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210910172727.htm
The Subtle Dance of Eye Contact in Conversation | Psychology Today United Kingdom
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-clarity/202109/the-subtle-dance-eye-contact-in-conversation
As the saying goes, “the eyes speak as much as the mouth,” so many social cues can be obtained from the human gaze. A 2017 study showed that pupillary dilation patterns are synchronized when the speaker and listener are more connected. Eye contact is also said to be important in interpersonal relationships, and many people believe that eye contact brings people closer together.
Therefore, a research team at Dartmouth College in the United States conducted an experiment to investigate synchronization of pupil dilation and eye contact in natural conversation. A total of 186 university students participated in the experiment, and the subjects faced each other in pairs and had a natural conversation for 10 minutes.
After that, the subjects watched the video of the previous conversation in separate rooms and evaluated how much they were concentrating on the conversation over time. The research team also tracked the pupils and eye contact of the subjects during the conversation and analyzed the relationship between the subject's concentration on the conversation and the pupil dilation pattern and eye contact.
The research team initially expected that eye contact that occurs during conversation would enhance mutual emotional synchronization, leading to subsequent synchronization of pupillary dilation patterns. However, it was revealed that the peak of pupillary synchronization actually occurs at the moment eye contact is made, and that synchronization rapidly disappears after eye contact. Subjects also reported that they were more focused on conversations when they were making eye contact.
These results suggest that eye contact has the effect of breaking down synchronization rather than promoting mutual emotional synchronization. On the other hand, it was also found that the synchronization of the pupillary dilation pattern does not decrease due to the large number of eye contacts, and that the pair with many eye contacts has more synchronization of the pupillary dilation pattern throughout the conversation.
Sophie Wohltjen, lead author of the paper, said: ``Eye contact when two people are talking indicates a high level of shared attention, which means they have the highest degree of synchrony with each other. As eye contact continues, that synchronicity diminishes.I think this is a good thing because if the synchronicity is too high, the conversation will get stuck in a rut. You have to stay and say something new sometimes, and eye contact seems to be a way for us to create a shared space while being open to new ideas.'
In addition, Professor
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