"There might be an optimal sweet spot in this coupling, decoupling thing--where people are really listening to each other, but they're also fueling the conversation with new ideas."
Thalia Wheatley “

Share

Study Finds That Making (And Breaking) Eye Contact Keeps Conversations Engaging

Posted on September 16, 2021 by Lisa D. Aubrey

  • wheatley and Wohltjen

    Photo by Eli Burakian '00

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, "Eye contact marks the rise and fall of shared attention in conversation," shows that periodically breaking eye contact during a conversation will allow for individual creativity and higher levels of engagement. The authors (graduate student Sophie Wohltjen and Professor Thalia Wheatley) were both quoted regarding their study in Scientific American and in Psychology Today. A story about this study was also featured in Dartmouth News and can be found here.