The Mystery of Gaze Perception and its Clinical Application

Heiko Hecht
Psychologisches Institut
Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Germany

Gaze direction is an important cue that regulates social 
interactions and facilitates joint attention. Although humans 
are very accurate in determining gaze directions in general, 
they have a surprisingly liberal criterion for the presence 
of mutual gaze. We first established a psychophysical task 
that required observers to adjust the eyes of a virtual head 
to the margins of the area of mutual gaze. Then we examined 
whether the resulting cone of gaze is altered in people with 
social phobia. It turned out that the gaze cone’s width was 
indeed enlarged, in particular during the presence of a second 
virtual person. The size of this effect was correlated with the 
severity of social anxiety. As this effect was found for merely 
virtual lookers, it seems to be a fundamental mechanism rather 
than a specific effect related to the fear of being observed and 
evaluated by others. It appears to apply to other anxiety 
disorders as well.