Eye Gazing Behaviors in Online Deception

Psychophysiological behaviors of deceivers have been used as an effective leakage channel of face-to-face deception. Among various psychophysiological behaviors, eye movement has been identified as one of the most reliable sources of deception behavior in face-to-face communication. However, empirical studies of eye movement behavior in online deception remain scarce. In this research, we investigated eye gazing behaviors of deceivers in online video chatting. Based on the findings of previous deception studies and the unique characteristics of online video chatting, we hypothesized that online deception has an impact on eye gazing behaviors. In addition, we innovatively operationalized eye gazing behaviors in terms of areas of interest. We conducted a lab-based experiment to test the hypotheses. The results supported the effect of deception on eye gazing behaviors. The findings of this study provide insights on how to improve the performance of online deception detection and how to apply eye tracking technologies to understand emerging human behaviors in online communication.