Event-related potentials index neural response to eye contact

Biol Psychol. 2017 Jul:127:18-24. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2017.04.006. Epub 2017 Apr 7.

Abstract

Sensitivity to eye-contact is a foundation upon which social cognition is built. However, there are no known neural markers characterizing response to reciprocal gaze. Using co-registered EEG and eye-tracking, we measured brain activity while participants viewed faces that responded to their looking patterns. Contingent upon participant gaze, onscreen faces opened their eyes or mouths; in this way we measured brain response to reciprocal eye-contact. We identified two ERP components that were largest in response to reciprocal eye-contact: the N170 and the P300. The magnitude of the components' differences between reciprocal eye-contact and mouth movement predicted self-reported social function. Individuals with greater brain response to reciprocal eye-contact reported more normative scores on measures of autistic traits. These results present the first neural markers of eye-contact, revealing that reciprocal eye-contact is identified in less than 500ms. Furthermore, individual differences in brain response to eye-contact predict meaningful variability in self-reports of social performance.

Keywords: EEG; Eye-contact; Face processing; N170.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain / physiology
  • Communication*
  • Evoked Potentials / physiology*
  • Face
  • Female
  • Fixation, Ocular*
  • Humans
  • Individuality
  • Male
  • Mouth / physiology
  • Photic Stimulation / methods
  • Social Behavior*
  • Visual Perception / physiology*
  • Young Adult