Eye contact is a bizarre human obsession. Too little is considered skittish, too much borderline psychopathic, and the spectrum in between can make or break a date, meeting or catch-up.
But why do we struggle to maintain it, and why do we feel the urge to look away? A pair of researchers from Kyoto University have been looking into it and, in a paper published in the journal Cognition, they present a possible explanation following a study.
Volunteers were asked to play a simple word association game, the pair finding that, for more challenging words, they would need a little longer, but this time was cut down if they broke eye contact.
After examining the data, the researchers found that (as per MedicalXpress):
“The dual task of maintaining eye contact (and the inherent intimate connection it involves) while also racking the brain for a word to meet the request is just too demanding - to save itself, the brain pushes for breaking eye contact so it can focus exclusively on finding a word that will fulfill the obligation.”
Essentially, breaking eye contact allows us to better choose our words. Looking someone in the eye may help us better establish an emotional rapport, but looking elsewhere may actually stimulate better conversation.
