The main effects of culture and gaze were not significant (both ps >.05). Funding: This study was supported by the Academy of Finland [grant number 131 786 to J.K.H. Universals and Cultural Differences in Recognizing Emotions, Argyle M, Henderson M, Bond M, Iizuka Y, Contarello A (1986), Cross-Cultural Variations in Relationship Rules, Cultural Approaches to Negotiations: Understanding the Japanese, McCarthy A, Lee K, Itakura S, Muir DW (2006), Cultural display rules drive eye gaze during thinking. Conceived and designed the experiments: SU JKH. In many East Asian cultures, it is customary to avert one's eyes when speaking with a person who is older or of more professional importance. Dogs perceive direct eye contact as a sign of challenge and fight to maintain their position. The ANOVA analysis showed a significant main effect of gaze (F (1, 38) =16.51, p<.001, p2=.30); HR deceleration was significantly greater when viewing a direct gaze (M=1.02, SEM =0.30) than when viewing an averted gaze (M=0.38, SEM =0.28). and more. For FI participants, HR during the direct gaze condition significantly decreased only at Time 3 (t=3.34 p=.003, d=1.53; M=1.96, SEM =0.59). Variation in Eye Contact (3) Minimal Eye Contact . Incorporated as a not-for-profit foundation in 1971, and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Forum is tied to no political, partisan or national interests. Overall, Japanese participants rated neutral faces as more emotional than did Finnish participants (F (1, 58) = 16.16, p < .001). The handbook of culture and psychology. The center of the lens was at eye level, between the models eyes. Eye-to-eye contact. For Japanese participants, the Japanese versions of the SPS [46] and FNE [47] were used. Previous studies have demonstrated cultural differences in eye movements while viewing faces [2224], and the pattern of the cultural differences varies according to task (e.g., identity and expression recognition). In the present study, an autonomic correlate (i.e., heart rate deceleration) of the orienting of attention to eye contact, as well as looking time and evaluative ratings among participants originating from Western European (Finland) and East Asian (Japan) cultures, was investigated by measuring responses to direct gaze, averted gaze, and closed eyes. Thus, although the effect of physical differences between the models' faces in both cultures was controlled in the present study by using difference scores, studies that have participants view both own- and other-group faces will be necessary. Although all Middle Eastern cultures cannot be grouped into one class, they do have similarities in their rules for the appropriateness of eye culture. Eye contact establishes a communication path, but it is only valuable if you deliver meaning. In the second block, the same stimuli were shown again, and now the task was to evaluate how dominant (1 = submissive, 9 = dominant) and warm (1 = cold, 9 = warm) the person in the picture appeared. Bowing is the traditional way of greeting and departing in Korea. Following previous studies [32, 33], the results were analyzed from data collapsed across the left and right gaze directions. However, you would catch them gawking at westerners while they think you are not watching. All participants had normal or corrected-to-normal visual acuity. For example, Japanese individuals exhibit less eye contact than do individuals from Western European or North American cultures. Finally, we did not observe any effects of culture, gaze direction, or the interaction between the two on subjective valence ratings. This may hold particularly true for faces from their own cultural background relative to faces from other cultural background (with whom they have less visual experience). In most Western cultures, eye contact is considered to be a good thing. It has been proposed that the structure of the human eye evolved under the pressure of the need for coordinated behavior with others [3]. Thus, we will not report the effects of the AQ and SPS scores in the results section. For pleasantness (Figure 4C), an ANOVA revealed a significant interaction between culture and gaze (F (1, 38) =4.37, p=.043, p2=.10). Some women may avoid eye contact altogether. In the self-controlled block, the HR data from one Finnish participant was excluded from the analysis because the participant's average looking time was less than 2 s in both conditions. Received 2012 Dec 20; Accepted 2013 Feb 15. In the Chinese culture, information and nonverbal cues are communicated through the eyes rather than through expressive smiles or frowns which Western cultures and Americans use to communicate. New York: Mouton Publishers. Further, participants rated the face stimuli for emotion and . The effects of approach- and avoidance-related emotions thus might have canceled each other out. All Rights Reserved. 1 As noted above, faces displaying a direct gaze have been shown to capture and hold our visual attention [7][9], [39][40]. In both cultures, faces displaying a direct gaze elicited more pronounced HR deceleration than faces displaying an averted gaze. Finally, participants were also asked to evaluate the valence and arousal of their own feelings while looking at the faces, as well as rate the stimulus faces for basic emotions, dominance, approachability, and pleasantness. By contrast, the present results suggest that both Japanese and Finnish participants rated direct gaze faces as more arousing than averted gaze faces. It is not, in itself, a definitive sign of autism. The animal kingdom tends to perceive direct eye contact as a challenge or sign of aggression. In humans, eye contact is a form of nonverbal communication and can have a large influence on social behavior.Coined in the early to mid-1960s, the term came from the West to often define the act as a meaningful and important sign of confidence and respect. Thus, we divided the data and conducted a 2 (stimulus faces cultural background) 7 (emotion) ANOVA for Japanese and Finnish participants separately. Studies investigating eye fixation patterns while scanning static facial expression images ([20]; but see also [57]), and moving animated faces [31] have not observed shorter fixation durations to eye regions between samples of East Asian vs. Western European individuals. Maintaining eye contact during social interaction is a more important principle for Western Europeans than for East Asians [26]. Therefore, the effects of approach- and avoidance-related emotions might have canceled each other out, which might have led to the absence of a biased eye contact perception for Japanese vs. Finnish faces among Japanese participants. The rating results suggest that individuals from an East Asian culture perceive another's face as angrier and more unapproachable and unpleasant when making eye contact as compared to individuals from a Western European culture. The mean heart rate change for direct (square dots) and averted gaze (triangle dots) in the self-controlled stimulus presentation block in the FI (white dots) and the JP group (grey dots). This study investigated whether eye contact perception differs in people with different cultural backgrounds. For men, they usually shake hands, but for women, they give a slight nod of the head. Importantly, the ANOVA revealed a significant three-way interaction between the cultural backgrounds of participants and stimulus faces and emotion (F (6, 348) = 10.93, p < .001). These studies also suggest that the cultural differences in attention to faces with a direct gaze are task dependent. The Chinese like food and a nice food basket will make a great gift. In: Matsumoto D, editor. Eye contact is expected in Western culture, it is a basic essential to a social interaction which shows a person's interest and engagement with your conversation. On each trial, the presentation time was 5 s. Before the model opened the shutter, she said Ready? to ensure that the participant was looking at the window when the shutter was opened. Lack of interest in what is . For example, in the present study, the dependent measure was the length of time participants kept the shutter open. PLOS ONE promises fair, rigorous peer review, Within each block, a given face remained on the screen while it was being rated along each scale in turn. The ECG was bandpass filtered from 0.05 to 30 Hz, and the sampling rate was 500 Hz (Neuroscan/Synamps). Because an eye-tracking device did not record participants' eye gaze fixations, the measured looking times do not necessarily correspond to the duration of actual eye contact. People from Western cultures show more eye contact than those from Japan [29,30]. Nonverbal cues vary widely in many cultures. It has been proposed that the suppressive display rule helps East Asians maintain social relationships in a collectivist society [45]. While maintaining eye contact is positively evaluated by Western Europeans, it is not the case with people of East Asian cultural backgrounds [27]. Eye contact is considered to be disrespectful or rude in many cultures, including Hispanic, Asian, Middle East, and Native Americans. Less spontaneous eye contact among Japanese individuals [27][29] would suggest that these individuals feel that a face that is making eye contact is more unpleasant and unapproachable, but more dominant, than individuals from a Western European culture. For the pleasantness ratings, ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of participants cultural background (F (1, 58) = 4.76, p = .033). This finding extends previous research which showed that eye contact captures visual attention [7], [8]; our results suggest that the enhanced attentional orienting to eye contact can be observed at the physiological level, and this orientation is culturally independent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. This shows that the degrees of gaze aversion at each gaze angle did not differ with respect to the cultural background of the face and gaze direction. Angry or happy expressions, as well as a direct gaze, reflect a desire to approach, while fearful or sad expressions and an averted gaze are signals of a desire for avoidance. Each stimulus was presented once for each participant (16 models 11 gaze directions); thus, the task consisted of 176 trials, presented in two separate blocks. (2011), Social experience does not abolish cultural diversity in eye movements, Jack RE, Blais C, Scheepers C, Schyns PG, Caldara R (2009), Cultural confusions show that facial expressions are not universal, Are the windows to the soul the same in the East and West? During shooting, the photographer carefully monitored the models possible head movements using markers for the eyes and chin position on a camera monitor. For Finnish participants, these two scales were translated into Finnish. In general, when feeling negative or positive emotions, the Japanese suppress or neutralize their facial expressions more than Americans [44]. If the differences in overt gaze behaviour between Western and Asian participants emanate from differences in voluntary control and regulation of one's attention, then it is possible that there will be no differences in HR deceleration responses to eye contact between the Western European and East Asian participants. A direct gaze was rated more pleasant than an averted gaze, regardless of the stimulus faces/participants cultural background. Asian Clients. The result indicated that Finnish participants were more likely to consider a slightly averted gaze as directed at them when viewing Japanese faces than when viewing Finnish faces. In other countries, however, it is incredibly rude to look into the other person's . The subjective evaluations of the emotional expressions on stimulus faces provide another way to interpret the effects of the participants and stimulus faces cultural backgrounds on eye contact perception. Studies using eye-tracking methodology have demonstrated that East Asians look at the center of a face, while Westerners alternate their focus along a triangle formed by the eyes and mouth when they are required to learn and recognize facial identity [22,23]. This may hold particularly true for faces from their own cultural background relative to faces from other cultural background (with whom they have less visual experience). Making queries is considered impolite and is a sign of disrespect for authority. The mean heart rate difference scores of direct gaze (left) and averted gaze (right) in the computer-controlled stimulus presentation block in the FI group (white bars) and the JP group (grey bars). The stimuli were presented on 17-inch CRT monitors (screen resolution: 1024 768 pixels; refresh rate: 75 Hz). In addition to the physiological measurements, participants' looking times in different gaze direction conditions were also measured when participants were allowed to control presentation of the model face. Third, it is possible that cultural differences in discerning information about others emotions might also exert an effect on eye contact perception, even when the face in question does not clearly express any emotion. Avoiding eye contact signifies respect. To control for the effect of physical differences between the faces of the Finnish and Japanese models for each participant, we calculated a mean difference score for the HR results (in the computer-controlled stimulus presentation block) and rating scores by subtracting the mean value for the closed eyes condition from those for the direct or averted gaze conditions. Finally, the electrodes were removed, and the participant was asked to complete the SPS and FNE questionnaires. These findings also suggest that because the Japanese are likely to perceive emotion even in the absence of any expressed emotion, the Japanese tendency not to hold eye contact with others may be a way of avoiding high arousal and reciprocal emotional interactions. Looking-at-me responses are indicated as a function of gaze direction for Finnish and Japanese faces of Finnish and Japanese participants. Given that eye contact is crucial for daily interpersonal communication, the current results provide unique insight into how we behave in front of others. Participants filled out the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) after completing the experiment. Eye contact is a way of communicating with others. Furthermore, we calculated the point of subjective equality (PSE) [40], a gaze deviation degree with a 50% probability of eye-contact acceptance for each participant using a binary logistic regression model [31, 34]. Maintaining eye contact during a conversation gives the impression that you are friendly and that you are paying attention to the other person. For example, East Asian individuals should not overinterpret the eye contact of Western European individuals as signalling anger, and Western European individuals should tolerate shorter and less frequent eye contact with East Asian individuals, as East Asian individuals might think that long and frequent eye contact could present an unapproachable impression. Based on available evidence, we would expect to observe more pronounced HR deceleration to eye contact in East Asian as compared to Western European participants. In accordance with Finnish regulations (Act on Medical Research and Decree on Medical Research 1999, amended 2010), specific ethics approval was not necessary for this kind of study in Finland. For approachability (Figure 4E), an ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of culture (F (1, 38) =14.78, p<.001, p2=.28), indicating that FI participants (M=0.00, SEM =0.32) rated the models' faces as more approachable than did JP participants (M=1.60, SEM =0.27). The order of the blocks was the same for all participants, and the order of the trials was randomized in each block. Opening up your body to the other person tells them you are listening, engaged, and ready to communicate. Learn more Essentially, there was a significant interaction between participants and stimulus faces cultural backgrounds (F (1, 58) = 5.86, p = .019). First, although a direct gaze universally serves important social functions, attention to faces with a direct gaze differs across cultures. The experiment was divided into three blocks namely, computer-controlled stimulus presentation block, self-controlled stimulus presentation block, and self-evaluative rating block. e0118094. This study was supported by the Academy of Finland [grant number 131 786 to J.K.H. When the model expressed emotion at a low intensity level, Japanese participants gave higher intensity ratings to their perceptions of the models subjective experience than to the models external display. For the JP participants, HR decelerated in the self-controlled stimulus presentation block (M=0.36, SEM =0.39) as was the case during the computer-controlled block; however, the FI participants showed an accelerated HR (M=1.16, SEM =0.33) during this block (Figure 3). Previous studies have shown that considerable visual experience with specific faces throughout development leads to more effective processing of these faces [41,42]. In some Asian and American Indian groups, direct eye contact is considered rude and disrespectful (Elliott, 1999). These fixation points corresponded to a direct gaze and averted gaze of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 to the left and right. Finnish and Japanese participants were asked to determine whether the stimulus face was looking at them. To avoid any confusion, the scales presented below the stimuli were always named. Find one person in each section, seated near the middle of that section. The culture beckons people with the palm facing downwards as well. However, HR usually decelerates first after the emotional stimulus onset and accelerates thereafter (e.g., [37], [49]).
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