26 Chapter 2 gaze direction and a more reflective cortical pathway (i.e., fusiform gyrus, superior temporal sulcus, MPFC and orbitofrontal cortex) for the evaluation of eye contact, i.e. theory of mind and mentalizing (Hietanen, 2018; Senju & Johnson, 2009). However, these pathways are based on studies generally using stimuli with a short duration (< 2 seconds) and with a focus on the effect of gaze direction on facial recognition processes, while the neural correlates of prolonged eye contact are understudied. This is striking as the affiliative role of eye contact in interpersonal contact with others most likely comes into play as the duration of eye contact increases. For example, behavioral studies have shown that a prolonged presentation duration of dynamic face stimuli induces greater emotional engagement (Cowan et al., 2014; Regenbogen et al., 2012) and more favorable judgements from receiver to sender (Argyle et al., 1974; Brooks et al., 1986; Kuzmanovic et al., 2009; Montgomery et al., 1998). Prolonged exposure is also thought to more strongly engage higher-order cognitive processes related to the evaluation of eye contact, such as mentalizing in order to infer others’ thoughts and feelings (Eskritt & Lee, 2007; Kuzmanovic et al., 2009). To date, only two studies focused on neural responses to prolonged eye contact. Kuzmanovic et al. (2009) examined the impact of varied gaze durations (i.e., 1, 2.5, and 4 s) on participants’ neural responses to direct and averted gaze and found that increased duration of direct gaze resulted in differential neural responses in MPFC, including orbitofrontal and paracingulate regions. In addition, Cavallo et al. (2015) examined participants’ neural responses to prolonged eye contact using stimuli of 15-30 s. They reported differential neural activation in IFG, anterior insula, pre-motor and supplementary motor area in response to direct versus averted gaze (i.e., gaze direction) of others. These brain regions are involved in the preparation of a communicative response, also referred to as a ‘readiness potential’ for the initiation of a social interaction (Cavallo et al., 2015; Gallagher, 2014; Pfeiffer et al., 2013; Saito et al., 2010). In addition, Cavallo et al. (2015) found the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) to be specifically activated when participants reciprocated the direct gaze of the target to establish a mutual gaze. To capture neural correlates of positive affect and feelings of connectedness elicited by prolonged eye contact, we developed a new fMRI paradigm to examine parents’ neural and affective responses to direct versus averted gaze stimuli with a prolonged presentation duration of 16-38 s. In this task, parents (n = 79, 44 mothers and 35 fathers) of adolescent children (aged between 12-18 years) made eye contact with their own child versus an unfamiliar child and adult. More specifically, we examined whether parents report a better mood and enhanced feelings of connectedness (affective responses) and show enhanced neural responses while making eye contact with others, and whether this is modulated by the person with whom they made eye contact in the videos (i.e., own child, an unfamiliar child or unfamiliar adult). In addition, we examined to what extent parents gazed towards the eye region of the targets during the direct gaze (versus averted gaze) conditions and whether these responses are modulated by the identity of the targets. As adolescence is a crucial period for social development and a good
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjY0ODMw