Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Eye Movement Monitoring of Memory
Published on: August 15, 2010
Amygdala damage impairs eye contact during conversations with real people
Michael L Spezio1, Po-Yin Samuel Huang, Fulvia Castelli
1Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA. mlspezio@hss.caltech.edu
Abstract:
The role of the human amygdala in real social interactions remains essentially unknown, although studies in nonhuman primates and studies using photographs and video in humans have shown it to be critical for emotional processing and suggest its importance for social cognition. We show here that complete amygdala lesions result in a severe reduction in direct eye contact during conversations with real people, together with an abnormal increase in gaze to the mouth. These novel findings from real social interactions are consistent with an hypothesized role for the amygdala in autism and the approach taken here opens up new directions for quantifying social behavior in humans.
Related Concept Videos
Prosopagnosia
Role of Amygdala in Memory
One of the...
Visual Agnosia
Therapeutic Communication
Verbal communication depends on language or a prescribed way of using words so that people can share information effectively. The critical aspects of verbal...
Facial Feedback Hypothesis
Accessory Structures of the Eye

