{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T03:01:33Z","timestamp":1787022093424,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,25]],"date-time":"2021-10-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1635120000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Attentional biases are a core characteristic of social anxiety (SA). However, research has yielded conflicting findings and failed to investigate these biases in real, face-to-face social situations. Therefore, this study examined attentional biases in SA by measuring participants\u2019 eye gaze within a novel eye-tracking paradigm during a real-life social situation. Student participants (N = 30) took part in what they thought was a visual search study, when a confederate posing as another participant entered the room. Whilst all participants avoided looking at the confederate, those with higher SA fixated for a shorter duration during their first fixation on him, and executed fewer fixations and saccades overall as well as exhibiting a shorter scanpath. These findings are indicative of additional avoidance in the higher SA participants. In contrast to previous experimental work, we found no evidence of social hypervigilance or hyperscanning in high SA individuals. The results indicate that in unstructured social settings, avoidance rather than vigilance predominates, especially in those with higher SA.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0259007","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,25]],"date-time":"2021-10-25T13:27:03Z","timestamp":1635168423000},"page":"e0259007","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":26,"title":["Adults with higher social anxiety show avoidant gaze behaviour in a real-world social setting: A mobile eye tracking study"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Irma","family":"Konovalova","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jastine V.","family":"Antolin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Helen","family":"Bolderston","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7925-6927","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Nicola J.","family":"Gregory","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0259007.ref001","volume-title":"Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5\u00ae)","year":"2013"},{"key":"pone.0259007.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"741","DOI":"10.1016\/S0005-7967(97)00022-3","article-title":"A cognitive-behavioral model of anxiety in social phobia","volume":"35","author":"RM Rapee","year":"1997","journal-title":"Behav Res Ther"},{"key":"pone.0259007.ref003","first-page":"69","volume-title":"Social phobia: Diagnosis, assessment, and treatment","author":"DM Clark","year":"1995"},{"key":"pone.0259007.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"84","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2016.05.069","article-title":"The aetiology and maintenance of social anxiety disorder: A synthesis of complimentary theoretical models and formulation of a new integrated model","volume":"203","author":"QJJ Wong","year":"2016","journal-title":"J Affect Disord"},{"key":"pone.0259007.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"59","DOI":"10.1007\/s11920-017-0808-4","article-title":"Gaze-Based Assessments of Vigilance and Avoidance in Social Anxiety: a Review","volume":"19","author":"NTM Chen","year":"2017","journal-title":"Curr Psychiatry Rep."},{"key":"pone.0259007.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"704","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cpr.2012.09.004","article-title":"Eye tracking of attention in the affective disorders: A meta-analytic review and synthesis","volume":"32","author":"T Armstrong","year":"2012","journal-title":"Clin Psychol Rev"},{"key":"pone.0259007.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"40","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jbtep.2015.04.009","article-title":"What does the facial dot-probe task tell us about attentional processes in social anxiety? 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