Shedden Laboratory

Online conversations are fundamentally different from face to face interactions. In a video call, social perceptions are affected by more than just body language—factors that don’t exist in face-to-face conversations, such as internet connectivity and video quality, can influence how others perceive you. We’re working with the DeGroote School of Business to investigate how variables such as camera placement, eye gaze, and audiovisual asynchrony can affect video-based interview performance.

To investigate these questions, we’ve created a large set of video stimuli. These videos are brief (<30s) answers to typical job interview questions, recorded from 4 different cameras: three in an arc in front of the actress, and one positioned to the side. Each interview question was performed three times: one take in which actress was looking at the top, middle, or bottom camera. These videos allow us to independently manipulate eye gaze and camera angle, while also addressing questions related to audio/video quality.