Affiliation with others is a basic human need. The lockdown implemented for counteracting the COVID-19 pandemic has determined an unprecedented situation of social deprivation, forcing individuals to dramatically reduce face-to-face interactions. This, in turn, has caused relevant consequences on psychological well-being. However, the impact of lockdown-related social isolation on basic cognitive processes is still largely unknown. Here, we focus on social attention and address gaze cueing, namely the ability to shift attention in response to the gaze of others. This is a hard-wired cognitive mechanism critically supporting the establishment of social interactions and pervasive relationships among individuals. Our results show a stronger gaze-cueing effect during, rather than after, the lockdown, whose magnitude was positively correlated with social isolation distress. These findings indicate that, in a condition of prolonged social deprivation, orienting of attention may be shaped by hypersensitivity to social cues, likely due to the strive to reconnect with others.
Keywords: Cognitive neuroscience; Psychology; Social interaction; Social sciences.
© 2021 The Author(s).