title: Event-related potentials index neural response to eye contact.
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.
authors.affiliation: Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT, 06520, United States. Electronic address: adam.naples@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Adam J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Naples
authors.affiliation: Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT, 06520, United States. Electronic address: jia.wu@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT, 06520, United States. Electronic address: linda.mayes@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Linda C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Mayes
authors.affiliation: Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT, 06520, United States. Electronic address: james.mcpartland@yale.edu.
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: McPartland
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D003142:Communication; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D009055:Mouth / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D012919:Social Behavior; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: EEG; Eye-contact; Face processing; N170