Eyes don’t lie – Does social anxiety influence pupil dilation mimicry?

Mimicry of behavior is a well-known phenomenon, thought to be important for social interaction. Some studies suggest that socially anxious individuals differ from the normal population in their mimicking behavior. This difference might be a sign of a mechanism involved in social anxiety. Previous research suggests a difference between autonomic and motor mimicry. Autonomic mimicry is related to the autonomic nervous system which is largely free of conscious influence, while motor mimicry is related to the motor areas and the mirror neuron system. In this paper the focus therefore lies on autonomic pupil dilation mimicry, ruling out conscious influence on mimicry behavior. This study aims to replicate previous findings that found a difference for socially anxious peoples mimicking behavior. The direction of the difference in mimicking behavior will be addressed in the exploratory part of this study in the case of significant results. Performed was a simple regression analysis between...Show moreMimicry of behavior is a well-known phenomenon, thought to be important for social interaction. Some studies suggest that socially anxious individuals differ from the normal population in their mimicking behavior. This difference might be a sign of a mechanism involved in social anxiety. Previous research suggests a difference between autonomic and motor mimicry. Autonomic mimicry is related to the autonomic nervous system which is largely free of conscious influence, while motor mimicry is related to the motor areas and the mirror neuron system. In this paper the focus therefore lies on autonomic pupil dilation mimicry, ruling out conscious influence on mimicry behavior. This study aims to replicate previous findings that found a difference for socially anxious peoples mimicking behavior. The direction of the difference in mimicking behavior will be addressed in the exploratory part of this study in the case of significant results. Performed was a simple regression analysis between the independent anxiety score variable obtained using the LSAS-SR and the dependent mimicry score. The results were ambiguous to a certain extent. The first analysis, including a wider range of data, was significant. It suggests an influence of social anxiety on pupil dilation mimicry, with a higher anxiety score leading to decrease in mimicry, suggesting a possible mechanism related to mimicry differences in social anxiety. However the effect size was not very high. Subsequent analysis excluding very noisy data and cases with low signal coverage led to insignificant results, suggesting normal perception and response to pupil dilation mimicry for people with social anxiety.Show less

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Eyes don’t lie – Does social anxiety influence pupil dilation mimicry?