Humans look at faces and eyes during communication to extract social and emotional cues
Extensive empirical research demonstrates that humans naturally look at faces and eyes during communication to decode social intentions and emotional cues.
The claim is specific and empirical, and multiple retrieved eye-tracking, behavioral, and neuroimaging studies consistently show that humans rely on faces and eyes to extract social and emotional cues during communication. Therefore, the claim is well supported by the evidence.
R. Cañigueral, A. Hamilton. The Role of Eye Gaze During Natural Social Interactions in Typical and Autistic People. 2019. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00560
Highlights gaze and facial expressions as primary social signals utilized during natural interpersonal communication.
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L. Chaby, I. Hupont, Marie Avril, Viviane Luherne-du Boullay, M. Chetouani. Gaze Behavior Consistency among Older and Younger Adults When Looking at Emotional Faces. 2017. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00548
Demonstrates that humans actively direct their gaze toward specific facial regions, such as the eyes and lower face, to process emotional signals.
David Hernández-Gutiérrez, Rasha Abdel Rahman, M. Martín-Loeches, F. Muñoz, A. Schacht, W. Sommer. Does dynamic information about the speaker's face contribute to semantic speech processing? ERP evidence.. 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2018.03.031
Shows that facial and eye dynamics provide important visual cues that are integrated during speech processing.
Maëva Michon, José Zamorano-Abramson, F. Aboitiz. Faces and Voices Processing in Human and Primate Brains: Rhythmic and Multimodal Mechanisms Underlying the Evolution and Development of Speech. 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.829083
Identifies specific neural pathways dedicated to processing dynamic social features such as eye gaze and facial expressions.
Franco Amati, Susan E. Brennan. Eye gaze as a cue for recognizing intention and coordinating joint action. 2018. https://doi.org/10.1075/ais.10.02ama
Examines how humans are highly sensitive to eye gaze as a compelling social signal used to coordinate interaction and infer intention.
Xing F, Sheffield AG, Jadi MP, Chang SWC, Nandy AS. Dynamic modulation of social gaze by sex and familiarity in marmoset dyads.. 2026. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.105034
Notes that social communication relies heavily on perceiving head orientation and gaze direction to interpret attention.
McCrackin S, Mayrand F, Ristic J. Social attention is enhanced by facial emotions even for occluded faces.. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.106809
Finds that eye gaze produces robust cueing effects that are further enhanced by emotional facial expressions.
Cano Porras D, Louwerse MM. The right eye for fixations: Eye asymmetries modulate gaze patterns towards speakers.. 2026. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-026-02892-w
Confirms that dialog partners primarily focus on the eyes during face-to-face social interactions to serve a communicative function.
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