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Research

Pupil Dilation as an Index of Preferred Mutual Gaze Duration

Binetti, Harrison, Coutrot, Johnston & Mareschal (2016) · Royal Society Open Science, 3(7)

Relied on in 4 places across the academy · 2 stated limits

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What it found

Across nearly 500 participants, the average preferred duration of mutual gaze was 3.3 seconds — considerably longer than most anxious people assume is welcome.

Across nearly 500 participants, the average preferred length of mutual gaze was about 3.3 seconds — longer than an anxious flinch allows, far shorter than a stare.

What it does not show

Video faces on a screen rather than live conversation, and preferences varied widely between individuals. 3.3 seconds is an average, not a target.

And where we carry it further

Measured with video faces on a screen, not live conversation, and preferences varied widely between individuals.

Measured with videoed faces on screens, not live conversation.

Where we rely on it

4 places in the academy. If this paper turned out to be wrong, this is the list that would have to change. Some of the instructions below are part of Gold; none of the findings are.

Cited alongside it

Papers that sit under the same topics and films. Not a claim that they agree with each other — only that the same exercises lean on both.

Research

A real study. We tell you what it found, how many people were in it, and what it can't prove.

Free to read, link to and quote. If we have carried this paper further than it goes, say so at contact@suaviq.com — corrections to this registry are the most useful mail we get.