article published Stefan Teodorov Lazarov author 903450009-0009-0892-9483 Angela Grimminger author 57578 660 department TRR 318; TP A02: Verstehensprozess einer Erklärung beobachten und auswerten project <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Gaze behavior, being continuously accessible to interlocutors in face-to-face interactions, serves as a cue for managing turn-taking, regulating the duration of topical sequences, and supporting cognitive processing in various everyday conversational contexts. The present study seeks to enhance the understanding of the relation between two forms of interactive gaze behavior – gaze aversions and mutual gaze – and the topical development in the explanatory discourse. To do so, we analyzed 24 dyadic board game explanations in which one explainer subsequently explained a board game to three different explainees while the board game was physically absent from the shared space. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the relation of gaze aversions and mutual gaze to the topical development of explanations. For this, based on previous research (Lazarov et al., 2024; Rossano, 2012) we hypothesized that (1) gaze aversions are more likely to be associated with topic changes than topic continuations, and that (2) mutual gaze is more likely to be associated with topic continuations than topic changes. In addition, we explored how the two forms of gaze behavior are related to the interlocutor who initiates a topic change or continuation. Our proportional analysis using a Generalized linear mixed effects model revealed that gaze aversions are related to topic changes initiated by both interlocutors. In contrast, the analysis did not reveal a significant relation between mutual gaze and topic continuations, which could be explained by the feedback elicitation function of mutual gaze at the end of speakers’ utterances (Bavelas et al., 2002; Brône et al., 2017; Kendon, 1967) while monitoring the addressees’ understanding (Clark &amp; Krych, 2004) and the complexity of the analyzed fixed and random effects.</jats:p> Springer Science and Business Media LLC2026 eng 0191-5886 1573-365310.1007/s10919-026-00512-8 Lazarov ST, Grimminger A. How are Gaze Aversions and Mutual Gaze Related to the Topical Development of Dyadic Explanatory Interactions? <i>Journal of Nonverbal Behavior</i>. Published online 2026. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-026-00512-8">10.1007/s10919-026-00512-8</a> S. T. Lazarov and A. Grimminger, “How are Gaze Aversions and Mutual Gaze Related to the Topical Development of Dyadic Explanatory Interactions?,” <i>Journal of Nonverbal Behavior</i>, 2026, doi: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-026-00512-8">10.1007/s10919-026-00512-8</a>. Lazarov, Stefan Teodorov, and Angela Grimminger. “How Are Gaze Aversions and Mutual Gaze Related to the Topical Development of Dyadic Explanatory Interactions?” <i>Journal of Nonverbal Behavior</i>, 2026. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-026-00512-8">https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-026-00512-8</a>. S.T. Lazarov, A. Grimminger, Journal of Nonverbal Behavior (2026). @article{Lazarov_Grimminger_2026, title={How are Gaze Aversions and Mutual Gaze Related to the Topical Development of Dyadic Explanatory Interactions?}, DOI={<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-026-00512-8">10.1007/s10919-026-00512-8</a>}, journal={Journal of Nonverbal Behavior}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Lazarov, Stefan Teodorov and Grimminger, Angela}, year={2026} } Lazarov, Stefan Teodorov, and Angela Grimminger. “How Are Gaze Aversions and Mutual Gaze Related to the Topical Development of Dyadic Explanatory Interactions?” <i>Journal of Nonverbal Behavior</i>, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2026, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-026-00512-8">10.1007/s10919-026-00512-8</a>. Lazarov, S. T., &#38; Grimminger, A. (2026). How are Gaze Aversions and Mutual Gaze Related to the Topical Development of Dyadic Explanatory Interactions? <i>Journal of Nonverbal Behavior</i>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-026-00512-8">https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-026-00512-8</a> 655652026-05-05T14:19:47Z2026-05-05T14:23:30Z