Making (and breaking) eye contact makes the conversation more engaging

Making eye contact multiple times when talking to someone is common, but why do we do it? When two people are having a conversation, eye contact occurs during moments of “shared attention” when both people are engaged, their pupils dilating as a result, according to a Dartmouth study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Eye contact is really immersive and powerful,” says lead author Sophie Wohltjen, a graduate student in Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth. “When two people have a conversation, eye contact signals that shared attention is high – that they are in perfect sync with each other. As eye contact persists, that synchrony then decreases. it’s also a good thing because too much synchrony can make a conversation stale. Engaging conversation sometimes requires being on the same page and sometimes saying something new. Eye contact seems to be a way of create a shared space while leaving space for new ideas.

“In the past it was assumed that eye contact created synchrony, but our results suggest it’s not that simple,” says lead author Thalia Wheatley, professor of psychology and brain science at Dartmouth and senior researcher from Dartmouth Social Systems. Laboratory. “We make eye contact when we are already in sync, and if we do, eye contact then seems to help break that synchrony. Eye contact can usefully disrupt synchronization momentarily in order to allow for a new thought or idea. “

To examine the relationship between eye contact and pupillary synchrony in natural conversation, pairs of students from Dartmouth were brought to the lab. Wearing eye-tracking glasses and sitting across from each other, each pair was invited to have a 10-minute conversation, which was audio and video recorded. Participants could talk about whatever they wanted. After the conversation was over, the two participants were separated in different rooms and were asked to watch the conversation they just had and continuously assess their level of engagement.

The research team examined how pupillary synchrony increases and decreases around cases of eye contact. The results showed that people make eye contact while pupillary synchrony is at its peak. Pupillary synchrony then immediately decreases, not being reestablished until eye contact is broken. The data also demonstrated a correlation between instances of eye contact and higher levels of engagement during conversation.

“Conversation is a creative act in which people build a shared story from independent voices.” Wheatley adds: “The moments of eye contact seem to indicate that we have reached a common understanding and that we need to bring our independent voice. “

The team’s findings are consistent with other work, which has illustrated how periodic disruption of synchrony can enable creativity and individual exploration.