Eye contact avoidance in crowds: A large wearable eye-tracking study
Hessels, Roy S.; Benjamins, Jeroen S.; Niehorster, Diederick C.; van Doorn, Andrea J.; Koenderink, Jan J.; Holleman, Gijs A.; de Kloe, Yentl J.R.; Valtakari, Niilo V.; van Hal, Sebas; Hooge, Ignace T.C.
(2022) Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, volume 84, issue 8, pp. 2623 - 2640
(Article)
Abstract
Eye contact is essential for human interactions. We investigated whether humans are able to avoid eye contact while navigating crowds. At a science festival, we fitted 62 participants with a wearable eye tracker and instructed them to walk a route. Half of the participants were further instructed to avoid eye
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contact. We report that humans can flexibly allocate their gaze while navigating crowds and avoid eye contact primarily by orienting their head and eyes towards the floor. We discuss implications for crowd navigation and gaze behavior. In addition, we address a number of issues encountered in such field studies with regard to data quality, control of the environment, and participant adherence to instructions. We stress that methodological innovation and scientific progress are strongly interrelated.
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Keywords: Crowd navigation, Eye contact, Eye tracking, Gaze, Wearable, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Language and Linguistics, Sensory Systems, Linguistics and Language
ISSN: 1943-3921
Publisher: Springer New York
Note: Funding Information: The authors thank Victoria Reshetnikova for help with the manual annotation. Authors RH, GH, YdK, and NV were supported by the Consortium on Individual Development (CID). CID is funded through the Gravitation program of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science and the NWO (Grant No. 024.001.003). Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).
(Peer reviewed)
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