Some EEG Correlates of Face‐to‐Face Contact

Abstract

Transoccipital EEG was monitored from 12 subjects during three conditions of gaze. The subject fixated continuously on the eyes of the experimenter. The experimenter smiled at the subject, looked at the subject or averted his eyes. Each condition was repeated six times (20 sec. per trial, overall viewing time 6 min.). The EEG was integrated automatically in 5 sec. epochs, to yield abundance scores. There is a general tendency for EEG abundance to be inversely related to the arousing properties of the viewed stimulus. This effect is statistically significant for 8ṁ5–11ṁ5 Hz (alpha frequencies), and for 2ṁ0–4ṁ5 Hz.