Eye-tracking as Diagnosis and Assessment Tool for Social Phobia

In this study, we evaluate the usability of an eye-tracking system as a diagnosis and assessment tool for visual avoidance behaviors in the context of social anxiety disorders. We conducted this study over five social phobic patients and five non phobic people who formed the control group. We recorded their eye movements with an eye-tracking system during two public speaking exercises in front of virtual scenes. We then analyzed a selection of important gaze parameters, namely, salient facial feature avoidance and hyperscanning, as well as eye blink rates and durations. The results we obtained show that eye-tracking proves to be a very promising tool.