
Why it's hard to talk and make eye contact at the same time - cx1000
https://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/11/18/why-its-hard-to-talk-and-make-eye-contact-at-the-same-time/
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tunap
Interesting theory, small sample. For me, it's more looking into the face of
another is distracting. I involuntarily imagine time-lapse(forward & back) of
a speaker/listener's face, note a facial scar/blemish and wonder briefly upon
it's genesis or focus on their lips as they speak(I have some tone deafness
that loses convo amidst background noise). I look for similarities and
differences to myself and empathize with time's past and future effects. It is
a huge distraction. Even more so when it's a stranger or adversarial
encounter. As for staring into eyes, I find it unsettling when someone's focus
jumps from my one eye to another, while I umdwrstand my static 'face stare'
gives an impression I may be something of a dullard... eyes are only one
indicator of body language, hyper-focus on them never gives me the complete,
albeit distracting, picture.

edit: reword 2nd to last sentence.

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mdrzn
A twelve people study? And they bothered with an article? Too bad they didn't
ask for at least 100 people.

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cx1000
Where do you see twelve? I see 26:

> Twenty-six participants were asked to look directly at a stranger’s face
> shown on-screen, while simultaneously performing an auditory verb generation
> task.

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mdrzn
My bad, it was 26 partecipants looking at 6 faces; still, a way underpopulated
study.

