The DOI matches its Crossref record; 84 of the 86 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The eye contact effect: mechanisms and development
Open accessAbstract
The 'eye contact effect' is the phenomenon that perceived eye contact with another human face modulates certain aspects of the concurrent and/or immediately following cognitive processing. In addition, functional imaging studies in adults have revealed that eye contact can modulate activity in structures in the social brain network, and developmental studies show evidence for preferential orienting towards, and processing of, faces with direct gaze from early in life. We review different theories of the eye contact effect and advance a 'fast-track modulator' model. Specifically, we hypothesize that perceived eye contact is initially detected by a subcortical route, which then modulates the activation of the social brain as it processes the accompanying detailed sensory information.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Highly relevant social signals, such as direct gaze, are particularly powerful in capturing attention both in adults and newborns”
From The social motivation theory of autism (2012) · cites this paper as [7]
In the citing paper
“they facilitate face-related tasks, such as gender discrimination or encoding of identities [7]”
From The social motivation theory of autism (2012) · cites this paper as [7]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Williams, J. B. W., & First, M. B. (2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.104 · Cited by 109,845
The distributed human neural system for face perception
Haxby, J. V., Hoffman, E. A., & Gobbini, M. I. (2000) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(00)01482-0 · Cited by 4,891
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM ‐ IV ‐ TR )
Segal, D. L. (2010) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy0271 · Cited by 4,687
(1996) · Cited by 3,692
Mindblindness: An Essay on Autism and Theory of Mind
(1995) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.33-2412 · Cited by 3,670
Social perception from visual cues: Role of the STS region
Allison, T., Puce, A., & McCarthy, G. (2000) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(00)01501-1 · Cited by 2,461
The eyes have it: the neuroethology, function and evolution of social gaze
Emery, N. J. (2000) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/s0149-7634(00)00025-7 · Cited by 2,037
Persistent activity in the prefrontal cortex during working memory
Curtis, C. E., & D'Esposito, M. (2003) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(03)00197-9 · Cited by 2,001
The Neural Basis of Mentalizing
Frith, C. D., & Frith, U. (2006) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2006.05.001 · Cited by 1,855
The Social Brain: Neural Basis of Social Knowledge
Adolphs, R. (2009) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163514 · Cited by 1,827
Cognitive neuroscience of human social behaviour
Adolphs, R. (2003) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn1056 · Cited by 1,657
Newborns' preferential tracking of face-like stimuli and its subsequent decline
Johnson, M. H., Dziurawiec, S., Ellis, H. D., & Morton, J. (1991) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(91)90045-6 · Cited by 1,463
Self-citationGaze and eye contact: a research review
Kleinke, C. L. (1986) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.100.1.78 · Cited by 1,455
Eye contact detection in humans from birth
Farroni, T., Csibra, G., Simion, F., & Johnson, M. H. (2002) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.152159999 · Cited by 1,442
Self-citationA subcortical pathway to the right amygdala mediating “unseen” fear
Morris, J. S., Öhman, A., & Dolan, R. J. (1999) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.96.4.1680 · Cited by 1,349
A mechanism for impaired fear recognition after amygdala damage
Adolphs, R., Gosselin, F., Buchanan, T. W., Tranel, D., Schyns, P., & Damasio, A. R. (2005) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature03086 · Cited by 1,331 · cited 1×
“Adolphs et al. [ 57 ] also reported that in one patient with bilateral amygdala”
Hoffman, E. A., & Haxby, J. V. (2000) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/71152 · Cited by 1,218
A Population-Average, Landmark- and Surface-based (PALS) atlas of human cerebral cortex
Van Essen, D. C. (2005) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.06.058 · Cited by 1,151
Vuilleumier, P., & Pourtois, G. (2007) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.06.003 · Cited by 1,115
An Integrated Software Suite for Surface-based Analyses of Cerebral Cortex
Essen, D. C. V., Drury, H. A., Dickson, J., Harwell, J., Hanlon, D., & Anderson, C. H. (2001) · Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association · doi:10.1136/jamia.2001.0080443 · Cited by 1,100
Singer, T. (2006) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2006.06.011 · Cited by 1,079
Schultz, R. T. (2005) · International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2004.12.012 · Cited by 1,071
Dawson, G., Webb, S. J., & McPartland, J. (2005) · Developmental Neuropsychology · doi:10.1207/s15326942dn2703_6 · Cited by 989
Johnson, M. H. (2005) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn1766 · Cited by 969
Self-citationSchumann, C. M., Hamstra, J., Goodlin-Jones, B. L., Lotspeich, L. J., Kwon, H., Buonocore, M. H., Lammers, C. R., Reiss, A. L., & Amaral, D. G. (2004) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1297-04.2004 · Cited by 840
Human Amygdala Responsivity to Masked Fearful Eye Whites
Whalen, P. J., Kagan, J., Cook, R. G., Davis, F. C., Kim, H., Polis, S., McLaren, D. G., Somerville, L. H., McLean, A. A., Maxwell, J. S., et al. (2004) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1103617 · Cited by 766
Gaze Following in Human Infants Depends on Communicative Signals
Senju, A., & Csibra, G. (2008) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.03.059 · Cited by 749
Self-citationMindblindness. An Essay on Autism and Theory of Mind
Povinelli, D. J., & Povinelli, T. J. (1996) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/s0166-2236(96)60013-7 · Cited by 724
Frith, C. D. (2007) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2006.2003 · Cited by 690
Are you always on my mind? A review of how face perception and attention interact
Palermo, R., & Rhodes, G. (2006) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.04.025 · Cited by 689
Cortical analysis of visual context.
Bar, M., & Aminoff, E. (2003) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(03)00167-3 · Cited by 630
Social learning and social cognition: The case for pedagogy
Csibra, G., & Gergely, G. (2006) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198568742.003.0011 · Cited by 621
Facial expression and gaze-direction in human superior temporal sulcus
Engell, A. D., & Haxby, J. V. (2007) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.06.022 · Cited by 566
Unique morphology of the human eye
Kobayashi, H., & Kohshima, S. (1997) · Nature · doi:10.1038/42842 · Cited by 534
Abnormal functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorders during face processing
Kleinhans, N. M., Richards, T., Sterling, L., Stegbauer, K. C., Mahurin, R., Johnson, L. C., Greenson, J., Dawson, G., & Aylward, E. (2008) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awm334 · Cited by 498
The role of the fusiform face area in social cognition: implications for the pathobiology of autism
Schultz, R. T., Grelotti, D. J., Klin, A., Kleinman, J., Van der Gaag, C., Marois, R., & Skudlarski, P. (2003) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2002.1208 · Cited by 469
“Newborns' Preference for Face-Relevant Stimuli: Effects of Contrast Polarity”
Farroni, T., Johnson, M. H., Menon, E., Zulian, L., Faraguna, D., & Csibra, G. (2005) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0502205102 · Cited by 467
Self-citationWhen Strangers Pass: Processing of Mutual and Averted Social Gaze in the Superior Temporal Sulcus
Pelphrey, K. A., Viola, R. J., & McCarthy, G. (2004) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00726.x · Cited by 464
Being with virtual others: Neural correlates of social interaction
Schilbach, L., Wohlschlaeger, A. M., Kraemer, N., Newen, A., Shah, N. J., Fink, G. R., & Vogeley, K. T. (2005) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2005.07.017 · Cited by 459
The human amygdala plays an important role in gaze monitoring
Kawashima, R., Sugiura, M., Kato, T., Nakamura, A., Hatano, K., Ito, K., Fukuda, H., Kojima, S., & Nakamura, K. (1999) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/122.4.779 · Cited by 447
Neural mechanisms of social attention
Nummenmaa, L., & Calder, A. J. (2009) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2008.12.006 · Cited by 428
Kampe, K. K. W., Frith, C. D., & Frith, U. (2003) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.23-12-05258.2003 · Cited by 406
Brain systems for assessing facial attractiveness
Winston, J. S., O’Doherty, J. P., Kilner, J. M., Perrett, D. I., & Dolan, R. J. (2006) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.05.009 · Cited by 384
The emergence of the social brain network: evidence from typical and atypical development
JOHNSON, M. H., GRIFFIN, R., CSIBRA, G., HALIT, H., FARRONI, T., DE HAAN, M., TUCKER, L. A., BARON–COHEN, S., & RICHARDS, J. (2005) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579405050297 · Cited by 369
Self-citationReading the mind from eye gaze
Calder, A. J., Lawrence, A. D., Keane, J., Scott, S. K., Owen, A. M., Christoffels, I. K., & Young, A. W. (2002) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(02)00008-8 · Cited by 346
George, N., Driver, J., & Dolan, R. J. (2001) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.2001.0769 · Cited by 343
Prefrontal regions play a predominant role in imposing an attentional ‘set’: evidence from fMRI
Banich, M. T., Milham, M. P., Atchley, R. A., Cohen, N. J., WEBB, A. G., Wszalek, T., Kramer, A. F., Liang, Z., Barad, V., Gullett, D., et al. (2000) · Cognitive Brain Research · doi:10.1016/s0926-6410(00)00015-x · Cited by 337
Processes of change in brain and cognitive development
Johnson, M. H., & Munakata, Y. (2005) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2005.01.009 · Cited by 337
Self-citationDirect gaze captures visuospatial attention
Senju, A., & Hasegawa, T. (2005) · Visual Cognition · doi:10.1080/13506280444000157 · Cited by 333
Self-citationAre You Looking at Me? Eye Gaze and Person Perception
Macrae, C. N., Hood, B. M., Milne, A. B., Rowe, A. C., & Mason, M. F. (2002) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00481 · Cited by 323
Early Amygdala Reaction to Fear Spreading in Occipital, Temporal, and Frontal Cortex
Krolak‐Salmon, P., Hénaff, M., Vighetto, A., Bertrand, O., & Mauguı̀ere, F. (2004) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(04)00264-8 · Cited by 307
Seeing direct and averted gaze activates the approach–avoidance motivational brain systems
Hietanen, J. K., Leppänen, J. M., Peltola, M. J., Linna-aho, K., & Ruuhiala, H. J. (2008) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.02.029 · Cited by 277
Brain Regions Involved in the Perception of Gaze: A PET Study
Wicker, B., Michel, F., Hénaff, M., & Jean Decety, A. (1998) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.1998.0357 · Cited by 274
Orangutans Modify Their Gestural Signaling According to Their Audience's Comprehension
Cartmill, E. A., & Byrne, R. W. (2007) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.06.069 · Cited by 261
Processes of Change in Brain and Cognitive Development Attention and Performance XXI
Jellinger, K. A. (2007) · European Journal of Neurology · doi:10.1111/j.1468-1331.2007.01894.x · Cited by 253
Developmental cognitive neuroscience: an introduction
(1997) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.34-5975a · Cited by 251
Calder, A. J., Beaver, J. D., Winston, J. S., Dolan, R. J., Jenkins, R., Eger, E., & Henson, R. N. (2007) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2006.10.052 · Cited by 239
Nichols, K. A., & Champness, B. G. (1971) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/0022-1031(71)90024-2 · Cited by 238
Skin Conductance Responses to Another Person’s Gaze in Children with Autism
Kylliäinen, A., & Hietanen, J. K. (2006) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0091-4 · Cited by 236
Neural correlates of eye gaze processing in the infant broader autism phenotype
Elsabbagh, M., Volein, A., Csibra, G., Holmboe, K., Garwood, H., Tucker, L., Krljes, S., Baron-Cohen, S., Bolton, P., Charman, T., et al. (2009) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.09.034 · Cited by 206
Self-citationEffects of Low-Spatial Frequency Components of Fearful Faces on Fusiform Cortex Activity
Winston, J. S., Vuilleumier, P. O., & Dolan, R. J. (2003) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2003.09.038 · Cited by 202
Being the target of another’s emotion: a PET study
Wicker, B., Perrett, D. I., Baron‐Cohen, S., & Decety, J. (2003) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(02)00144-6 · Cited by 200
Sato, W., Yoshikawa, S., Kochiyama, T., & Matsumura, M. (2004) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.02.030 · Cited by 195
Infants perceiving and acting on the eyes: Tests of an evolutionary hypothesis
Farroni, T., Mansfield, E. M., Lai, C., & Johnson, M. H. (2003) · Journal of Experimental Child Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0022-0965(03)00022-5 · Cited by 193
Self-citationUnderstanding the referential nature of looking: Infants’ preference for object-directed gaze
Senju, A., Csibra, G., & Johnson, M. H. (2008) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2008.02.009 · Cited by 192
Self-citationEye remember you: the effects of gaze direction on face recognition in children and adults
Hood, B. M., Macrae, C. N., Cole‐Davies, V., & Dias, M. (2003) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/1467-7687.00256 · Cited by 181
Conty, L., N’Diaye, K., Tijus, C., & George, N. (2007) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.05.017 · Cited by 178
Understanding the intentions of others from visual signals: Neurophysiological evidence.
Perrett, D. I., & Emery, N. J. (1994) · Cited by 164
Neural correlates of eye-gaze detection in young children with autism
Grice, S. J., Halit, H., Farroni, T., Baron-Cohen, S., Bolton, P., & Johnson, M. H. (2005) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/s0010-9452(08)70271-5 · Cited by 162
Self-citationA Feedback Model of Visual Attention
Spratling, M., & Johnson, M. H. (2004) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/089892904322984526 · Cited by 153
Self-citationSenju, A., Hasegawa, T., & Tojo, Y. (2005) · Visual Cognition · doi:10.1080/13506280444000797 · Cited by 148
Self-citationIs anyone looking at me? Direct gaze detection in children with and without autism
Senju, A., Kikuchi, Y., Hasegawa, T., Tojo, Y., & Osanai, H. (2008) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2007.12.001 · Cited by 145
Self-citationBrain Mechanisms for Interpreting the Actions of Others From Biological-Motion Cues
Pelphrey, K. A., & Morris, J. P. (2006) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2006.00423.x · Cited by 140
Coelho, E., George, N., Conty, L., Hugueville, L., & Tijus, C. (2006) · Spatial Vision · doi:10.1163/156856806779194026 · Cited by 138
Direct gaze modulates face recognition in young infants
Farroni, T., Massaccesi, S., Menon, E., & Johnson, M. H. (2006) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2006.01.007 · Cited by 132
Self-citationDeviant gaze processing in children with autism: an ERP study
Senju, A., Tojo, Y., Yaguchi, K., & Hasegawa, T. (2005) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2004.12.002 · Cited by 130
Self-citationConcepts and Mechanisms of Generalized Central Nervous System Arousal
Pfaff, D., Ribeiro, A., Matthews, J., & Kow, L. (2008) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1196/annals.1417.019 · Cited by 129
Seeing the face through the eyes: a developmental perspective on face expertise
Gliga, T., & Csibra, G. (2007) · Progress in brain research · doi:10.1016/s0079-6123(07)64018-7 · Cited by 128
How Young Children Treat Objects and People: An Empirical Study of the First Year of Life in Autism
Maestro, S., Muratori, F., Cavallaro, M. C., Pecini, C., Cesari, A., Paziente, A., Stern, D. N., Golse, B., & Palacio-Espasa, F. (2005) · Child Psychiatry & Human Development · doi:10.1007/s10578-005-2695-x · Cited by 125
A modulatory role for facial expressions in prosopagnosia
de Gelder, B., Frissen, I., Barton, J. J. S., & Hadjikhani, N. K. (2003) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1735530100 · Cited by 115
Bailey, A. J., Braeutigam, S., Jousmäki, V., & Swithenby, S. J. (2005) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/j.1460-9568.2005.04061.x · Cited by 86
Effect of head orientation on gaze processing in fusiform gyrus and superior temporal sulcus
Pageler, N. M., Menon, V., Merin, N. M., Eliez, S., Brown, W. E., & Reiss, A. L. (2003) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00229-5 · Cited by 63
Eye remember you two: gaze direction modulates face recognition in a developmental study
Smith, A. D., Hood, B. M., & Hector, K. (2006) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2006.00513.x · Cited by 48
Face and gaze processing in normally developing children: a magnetoencephalographic study
Kylliäinen, A., Braeutigam, S., Hietanen, J. K., Swithenby, S., & Bailey, A. J. (2006) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/j.1460-9568.2005.04554.x · Cited by 36
Flagged first, then by citations
2 of the 86 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The social motivation theory of autism
Chevallier, C., Kohls, G., Troiani, V., Brodkin, E. S., & Schultz, R. T. (2012) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.02.007 · Cited by 2,072
The Simulation of Smiles (SIMS) model: Embodied simulation and the meaning of facial expression
Niedenthal, P. M., Mermillod, M., Maringer, M., & Hess, U. (2010) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x10000865 · Cited by 618
Social modulators of gaze-mediated orienting of attention: A review
Dalmaso, M., Castelli, L., & Galfano, G. (2020) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-020-01730-x · Cited by 188
Placebo and the New Physiology of the Doctor-Patient Relationship
Benedetti, F. (2013) · Physiological Reviews · doi:10.1152/physrev.00043.2012 · Cited by 492
Atypical eye contact in autism: models, mechanisms and development
Senju, A., & Johnson, M. H. (2009) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.06.001 · Cited by 454
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Senju, A., & Johnson, M. H.
- Affiliations
- Birkbeck, University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Senju, Atsushi
- Venue
- Trends in Cognitive Sciences
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-03
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 127-134
- ISSN
- 1364-6613 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2149395978
- Cited by
- 797
- References
- 86
- Citations by year
- 2026: 33 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 59 · 2022: 48 · 2021: 64 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 60 · 2018: 60 · 2017: 61 · 2016: 45 · 2015: 58 · 2014: 41 · 2013: 51 · 2012: 34
- FWCI
- 2.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Trends in Cognitive Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- BIROn (Birkbeck, University of London) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Medical Research Council (G0701484)
- Economic and Social Research Council (ES/G007322/1)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- gaze perception, social brain network, face processing, cognitive modulation, social cognition development
- MeSH terms
- Attention, Brain, Facial Expression, Fixation, Ocular, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Social Behavior, Social Perception, Visual Perception
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
