The phrase "avert gaze" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when describing the action of turning one's eyes away from something, often to avoid looking at it directly.
Example: "Feeling uncomfortable during the conversation, she chose to avert her gaze and focus on the floor instead."
Alternatives: "look away" or "turn away one's eyes".
The researchers were surprised that children with Williams syndrome looked away when they were thinking, as they often stare at people when talking to them, so researchers had wondered whether they wouldn't avert gaze when thinking.
What happens to cognitive processing if we do not avert gaze and attempt to hold mutual eye contact whilst also processing information?
However, at other points of an interaction (especially when thinking, but also when speaking; Ehrlichman, 1981; Kendon, 1967) it may be more beneficial to avert gaze than to subject ourselves to the additional load associated with holding face gaze.
On each trial, the experimenter either looked at the child (direct gaze condition) or looked down toward the test protocol (averted gaze condition; Figure 1a).
We compared the responses to both averted and direct gaze between the groups in a 2 × 2 factorial design with group (controls and ASCs) and gaze direction (averted gaze vs. null and direct gaze vs. null) as the main factors.
The second-level GLM consisted of a 2 × 2 factorial design with both group (controls and ASCs) and gaze direction (averted gaze vs. null and direct gaze vs. null) as the main factors.
Yet powerful socio-cultural groups are often indifferent or reluctant to acknowledge they are part of the problem or to examine their role in disadvantaging Indigenous clients, illustrating Wisniewski's concept of 'the averted gaze'[ 77]:5].
Another more positive interpretation is that the physical touch and averted gaze provided by the nurse gave the patient a very welcome opportunity to raise a delicate issue and her matter-of-fact tone normalised the issue.
3 A three-way mixed ANOVA was conducted using the gaze aversion data (the percentage of time averting gaze away from the face of the experimenter) with factors Group ASDD, TD), Gaze Direction (At Will, Eye Contact), and Phase of Interaction (listening, thinking, speaking).
Signs that they were potentially untrustworthy included insincere smiles, averted gazes and postures that "leaned away" rather than toward the camera, among others, Dr. Taylor said.
In acts described by psychologists and sociologists as subliminal bonding consistent with wartime, instead of averting gazes when a stranger stood close, many New Yorkers made eye contact.
