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Look Me in the Eyes: Mechanisms Underlying the Eye Contact Effect
Author(s) -
Niedźwiecka Alicja
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
child development perspectives
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1750-8606
pISSN - 1750-8592
DOI - 10.1111/cdep.12361
Subject(s) - eye contact , psychology , gaze , cognitive psychology , eye tracking , cognition , arousal , eye movement , developmental psychology , neuroscience , physics , psychoanalysis , optics
Abstract Eye contact with an experimenter enhances participants’ performance in certain cognitive tasks. The eye contact effect has been demonstrated in studies with infants and adults. However, this effect may be modulated by individual and contextual factors. In this review, I focus on several mechanisms that may account for the enhancement of cognitive processing by eye contact: an early preparedness to process gaze, an informative signal value of direct gaze, and responses elicited by eye contact (i.e., increased arousal, positive emotions, and approach motivation). We need developmental studies to determine how these mechanisms change over time.