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Whatcha lookin' at? Social anxiety heightens brain sensitivity to others' gaze (news.umich.edu)
submitted 2 days ago by to c/science@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/scientificarticles/p/1469388/whatcha-lookin-at-social-anxiety-heightens-brain-sensitivity-to-others-gaze

Ever catch someone looking your way and wonder what they’re thinking? For people with social anxiety, that moment may trigger a heightened response in the brain, even though it does not improve their later judgments about what the gaze means.

A new study found that young adults with higher levels of social anxiety showed stronger brain responses when a word describing someone’s thoughts or feelings didn’t match what their gaze seemed to convey.

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[–] 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Ive always thought it funny how my anxiety always receded when i went in public without my glasses on. Cant tell if someone is looking at you when your blind. Also super easy making eye contact when you cant see that youre making eye contact lol

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  • [–] 2 points 2 days ago

    This!! I adopted 2 modes going through public like that (I'm shortsighted).

    Without glasses/contact lenses, for days where I don't really really need to see far things, which makes it much more bearable with my social anxiety and sensory load.

    With glasss/contact lenses, when going to cinema or travelling somewhere I need to orient myself and find something. This is basically hell in my thoughts especially in places where people can't mind their own business in their mind lol

    I walked around for years without glasses and still do for periods cause my ptsd/anxiety have less to 'nag/hook' on. in really bad times it felt like walking around with a hole to my brain and picking up every thought of others in the surrounding until I was home to unwind all that cognitive mess

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    • [–] 1 point 1 day ago

    or people who have racial biases against POCs, often has this when they are approached by them.

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