Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 30, 2026

Intracortical Inhibition Within the Primary Motor Cortex Can Be Modulated by Changing the Focus of Attention
Published on: September 11, 2017
I don't need your attention: ostracism can narrow the cone of gaze
Aleksi H Syrjämäki1, Pessi Lyyra2, Jari K Hietanen3
1Human Information Processing Laboratory, Faculty of Social Sciences/Psychology, University of Tampere, 33014, Tampere, Finland. aleksi.syrjamaki@uta.fi.
Abstract:
Previous research has shown that ostracized participants seek inclusive cues, such as gaze directed at them, when trying to reaffiliate. However, instead of seeking reinclusion, ostracized individuals may sometimes withdraw from interactions if not offered an opportunity for reaffiliation. In the current study, after an ostracism manipulation with no reaffiliation opportunity, participants judged whether faces portraying direct gaze or slightly averted gaze (2°-8° to the left and to the right) were looking at them or not. Compared to an inclusion group and a non-social control group, ostracized participants accepted a smaller range of gaze directions as being directed at them, i.e., they had a narrower "cone of gaze". The width of the gaze cone was equally wide in the inclusion and control groups. We propose that, without an opportunity for reaffiliation, ostracized participants may start to view other people as particularly unapproachable, possibly indicative of a motivational tendency to disengage from interactions.
Related Concept Videos
The Stanford Prison Experiment
In- and Out-Groups
Bystander Effect
Groupthink
Focusing of Light in the Eye
Locus of Control

