Eye contact avoidance in crowds: A large wearable eye-tracking study

Roy S. Hessels; Jeroen S. Benjamins; Diederick C. Niehorster; Andrea J. van Doorn; Jan J. Koenderink; Gijs A. Holleman; Yentl J.R. de Kloe; Niilo V. Valtakari; Sebas van Hal; Ignace T.C. Hooge

doi:10.3758/s13414-022-02541-z

Eye contact avoidance in crowds: A large wearable eye-tracking study

Roy S. Hessels^*, Jeroen S. Benjamins, Diederick C. Niehorster, Andrea J. van Doorn, Jan J. Koenderink, Gijs A. Holleman, Yentl J.R. de Kloe, Niilo V. Valtakari, Sebas van Hal, Ignace T.C. Hooge

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Eye contact is essential for human interactions. We investigated whether humans are able to avoid eye contact while navigating crowds. At a science festival, we fitted 62 participants with a wearable eye tracker and instructed them to walk a route. Half of the participants were further instructed to avoid eye contact. We report that humans can flexibly allocate their gaze while navigating crowds and avoid eye contact primarily by orienting their head and eyes towards the floor. We discuss implications for crowd navigation and gaze behavior. In addition, we address a number of issues encountered in such field studies with regard to data quality, control of the environment, and participant adherence to instructions. We stress that methodological innovation and scientific progress are strongly interrelated.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2623-2640
Number of pages	18
Journal	Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics
Volume	84
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-022-02541-z
Publication status	Published - 22 Aug 2022

Keywords

Crowd navigation
Eye contact
Eye tracking
Gaze
Wearable

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s13414-022-02541-zFinal published version, 1.1 MBLicence: CC BY

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title = "Eye contact avoidance in crowds: A large wearable eye-tracking study",

abstract = "Eye contact is essential for human interactions. We investigated whether humans are able to avoid eye contact while navigating crowds. At a science festival, we fitted 62 participants with a wearable eye tracker and instructed them to walk a route. Half of the participants were further instructed to avoid eye contact. We report that humans can flexibly allocate their gaze while navigating crowds and avoid eye contact primarily by orienting their head and eyes towards the floor. We discuss implications for crowd navigation and gaze behavior. In addition, we address a number of issues encountered in such field studies with regard to data quality, control of the environment, and participant adherence to instructions. We stress that methodological innovation and scientific progress are strongly interrelated.",

keywords = "Crowd navigation, Eye contact, Eye tracking, Gaze, Wearable",

author = "Hessels, {Roy S.} and Benjamins, {Jeroen S.} and Niehorster, {Diederick C.} and {van Doorn}, {Andrea J.} and Koenderink, {Jan J.} and Holleman, {Gijs A.} and {de Kloe}, {Yentl J.R.} and Valtakari, {Niilo V.} and {van Hal}, Sebas and Hooge, {Ignace T.C.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors thank Victoria Reshetnikova for help with the manual annotation. Authors RH, GH, YdK, and NV were supported by the Consortium on Individual Development (CID). CID is funded through the Gravitation program of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science and the NWO (Grant No. 024.001.003). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s).",

year = "2022",

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doi = "10.3758/s13414-022-02541-z",

language = "English",

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AU - Hessels, Roy S.

AU - Benjamins, Jeroen S.

AU - Niehorster, Diederick C.

AU - van Doorn, Andrea J.

AU - Koenderink, Jan J.

AU - Holleman, Gijs A.

AU - de Kloe, Yentl J.R.

AU - Valtakari, Niilo V.

AU - van Hal, Sebas

AU - Hooge, Ignace T.C.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank Victoria Reshetnikova for help with the manual annotation. Authors RH, GH, YdK, and NV were supported by the Consortium on Individual Development (CID). CID is funded through the Gravitation program of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science and the NWO (Grant No. 024.001.003). Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).

PY - 2022/8/22

Y1 - 2022/8/22

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AB - Eye contact is essential for human interactions. We investigated whether humans are able to avoid eye contact while navigating crowds. At a science festival, we fitted 62 participants with a wearable eye tracker and instructed them to walk a route. Half of the participants were further instructed to avoid eye contact. We report that humans can flexibly allocate their gaze while navigating crowds and avoid eye contact primarily by orienting their head and eyes towards the floor. We discuss implications for crowd navigation and gaze behavior. In addition, we address a number of issues encountered in such field studies with regard to data quality, control of the environment, and participant adherence to instructions. We stress that methodological innovation and scientific progress are strongly interrelated.

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KW - Eye contact

KW - Eye tracking

KW - Gaze

KW - Wearable

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JO - Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics

JF - Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics

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Eye contact avoidance in crowds: A large wearable eye-tracking study

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