Thinking and looking produce distinct patterns of gaze aversion during a structured social interaction

Systematic differences in eye gaze patterns emerge when attention is directed externally versus internally in non-social contexts. Here we asked whether these differences also apply to structured social interactions. Gaze aversion during conversations may occur because conversation partners are referencing an object in their environment (an externally directed looking gaze) or because they are thinking and wish to reduce visual information from the other person's face (an internally directed thinking gaze). We measured eye movements in 28 participants while prompting these two types of gaze aversion. Compared to looking gaze aversion, thinking gaze aversion involved scanning a larger spatial area with shorter and fewer fixations. In addition, head and eye movements were more strongly coupled during looking than during thinking gaze aversion, and participants exhibited consistent individual variation in the direction of thinking gaze aversion. These findings shed light on how individuals manage social attention and suggest that observable social cues are available for others to infer interlocutors' intentions during conversations.