Temperamental shyness is characterized by fear, wariness, and the perception of threat in response to social novelty. Previous work has been inconsistent regarding attentional patterns to social threat among shy children, with evidence for both avoidance and vigilance. We examined relations between children's shyness and gaze aversion during the approach of a stranger (i.e., a context of social novelty), and tested whether these patterns of gaze moderated relations between shyness and autonomic reactivity and recovery. Participants included 152 typically-developing children (M_age = 7.82 years, SD = 0.44 years) who had their respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) recorded during baseline, social novelty, and recovery. Children's shyness correlated with increases in self-reported nervousness from baseline to social novelty, providing support for perceived threat. Results revealed that children's proportion of gaze aversion from social novelty was related to shyness in a U-shape pattern such that both low levels of gaze aversion (i.e., attentional vigilance) and high levels of gaze aversion (i.e., attentional avoidance) were related to higher levels of shyness. Further, we found that children's shyness was directly related to decreases in RSA from baseline to social novelty, whereas quadratic gaze to social novelty moderated the relation between shyness and RSA recovery. Specifically, shyness was related to greater RSA recovery among children who exhibited attentional vigilance during the novel social interaction. Our findings provide support for both avoidance of, and vigilance to, social threat among different shy children, and these gaze strategies may be differentially related to physiological regulation during novel social encounters.

中文翻译：

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警惕还是回避？社会威胁期间儿童的气质害羞、凝视模式和生理

气质害羞的特点是恐惧、警惕和对社会新奇事物的威胁感知。以前的工作在害羞儿童对社会威胁的注意模式方面一直不一致，有证据表明避免和警惕。我们检查了在陌生人接近期间儿童的害羞和凝视厌恶之间的关系（即，社会新奇的背景），并测试了这些凝视模式是否调节了害羞与自主反应和恢复之间的关系。参与者包括 152 名发育正常的儿童（M_年龄 = 7.82 岁，SD = 0.44 岁）在基线、社会新奇和恢复期间记录了他们的呼吸性窦性心律失常 (RSA)。儿童的害羞与从基线到社会新奇的自我报告的紧张增加相关，为感知威胁提供支持。结果表明，儿童对社交新奇事物的注视厌恶与害羞呈 U 型关系，因此低水平的注视厌恶（即注意力警惕）和高水平的注视厌恶（即注意力回避）都与更高层次的害羞。此外，我们发现儿童的害羞与 RSA 从基线到社会新颖性的降低直接相关，而对社会新颖性的二次凝视调节了害羞和 RSA 恢复之间的关系。具体来说，在新的社交互动中表现出注意力警惕性的儿童中，害羞与更大的 RSA 恢复有关。我们的研究结果为避免和警惕不同害羞儿童的社会威胁提供了支持，并且这些凝视策略可能与新社交接触期间的生理调节存在不同的相关性。