title: Neural mechanisms of eye contact when listening to another person talking.
abstract: Eye contact occurs frequently and voluntarily during face-to-face verbal communication. However, the neural mechanisms underlying eye contact when it is accompanied by spoken language remain unexplored to date. Here we used a novel approach, ﬁxation-based event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to simulate the listener making eye contact with a speaker during verbal communication. Participants' eye movements and fMRI data were recorded simultaneously while they were freely viewing a pre-recorded speaker talking. The eye tracking data were then used to define events for the fMRI analyses. The results showed that eye contact in contrast to mouth fixation involved visual cortical areas (cuneus, calcarine sulcus), brain regions related to theory of mind/intentionality processing (temporoparietal junction, posterior superior temporal sulcus, medial prefrontal cortex) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In addition, increased effective connectivity was found between these regions for eye contact in contrast to mouth fixations. The results provide first evidence for neural mechanisms underlying eye contact when watching and listening to another person talking. The network we found might be well suited for processing the intentions of communication partners during eye contact in verbal communication.
authors: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany.|Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin 10117, Germany.|Institute of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin 12489, Germany.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Jiang
authors: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany.|Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin 10117, Germany.
authors: Kamila
authors: K
authors: Borowiak
authors: Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin 10117, Germany.
authors: Luke
authors: L
authors: Tudge
authors: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany.
authors: Carolin
authors: C
authors: Otto
authors: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany.|Institute of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin 12489, Germany.
authors: Katharina
authors: K
authors: von Kriegstein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003142:Communication; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: eye contact; eye tracking; rapid event-related design; verbal communication; ﬁxation-based event-related fMRI