Neuroscience
Why do we have a line of hair sitting caterpillar-like above each of our eyes? Forget such mundanities as dust protection or ornamentation, a new study suggests our eyebrows serve to control how easily other people can tell where we are looking.
Four participants looked at hundreds of photos of the eye region of people who were facing forwards, gazing either to the left or right of the camera. The photos varied in size (a substitute for what, in real life, would be viewing distance), how long they were shown for and whether the eyebrows were neutral, lowered or raised.
The participants' accuracy in judging gaze direction from the photos was unaffected by photograph size up to a critical point after which accuracy suddenly plummeted. Roger Wyatt and colleagues at Stirling University who conducted the research said this pattern of results suggests we determine a person's gaze direction by comparing the amount of white eyeball visible on either side of the dark iris.
Crucially, the position of the eyebrows affected the size of photo beyond which accuracy was affected. In other words, if the eyebrows were raised, the participants were able to judge gaze direction with smaller photos than if the eyebrows were lowered. Viewing time affected accuracy regardless of photo size.
The researchers said the effect of eyebrow position was suggestive of a social function for the hairy tufts, and helped explain the 'eyebrow flash' – the convention for people to raise their eyebrows at each other from a distance in a gesture of acknowledgement. “It may make the eye gaze direction of the sender briefly visible to the receiver. Since that eye gaze direction is at the receiver, it results in the receiver being given a brief 'I am looking at you signal', which would communicate recognition,” they said.
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Watt, R., Craven, B. & Quinn, S. (In Press). A role for eyebrows in regulating the visibility of eye gaze direction. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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Neuroscience
So that's what eyebrows are for...
Why do we have a line of hair sitting caterpillar-like above each of our eyes? Forget such mundanities as dust protection or ornamentation, a new study suggests our eyebrows serve to control how easily other people can tell where we are looking.Four participants looked at hundreds of photos of the eye region of people who were facing forwards, gazing either to the left or right of the camera. The photos varied in size (a substitute for what, in real life, would be viewing distance), how long they were shown for and whether the eyebrows were neutral, lowered or raised.
The participants' accuracy in judging gaze direction from the photos was unaffected by photograph size up to a critical point after which accuracy suddenly plummeted. Roger Wyatt and colleagues at Stirling University who conducted the research said this pattern of results suggests we determine a person's gaze direction by comparing the amount of white eyeball visible on either side of the dark iris.
Crucially, the position of the eyebrows affected the size of photo beyond which accuracy was affected. In other words, if the eyebrows were raised, the participants were able to judge gaze direction with smaller photos than if the eyebrows were lowered. Viewing time affected accuracy regardless of photo size.
The researchers said the effect of eyebrow position was suggestive of a social function for the hairy tufts, and helped explain the 'eyebrow flash' – the convention for people to raise their eyebrows at each other from a distance in a gesture of acknowledgement. “It may make the eye gaze direction of the sender briefly visible to the receiver. Since that eye gaze direction is at the receiver, it results in the receiver being given a brief 'I am looking at you signal', which would communicate recognition,” they said.
___________________________________
Watt, R., Craven, B. & Quinn, S. (In Press). A role for eyebrows in regulating the visibility of eye gaze direction. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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If you've ever felt acutely self conscious upon making eye contact with another person, a new study may help you understand why. Matias Baltazar and his colleagues have found that making eye contact activates people's awareness of their own bodies....
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At just the moment the magician swaps the position of two cards in her left hand, she looks across deliberately and misleadingly to her right hand and your attention follows. You can't help it. You see where she's looking and your attention is...
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Eye-catching studies that didn't make the final cut: Short arms and legs linked with increased susceptibility to dementia. Complaints against therapists. Introducing hedonomics: a mix of decision-making research with happiness research. The role of...
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Teaching young children to look away while they are thinking could help improve their problem-solving abilities. Fiona Phelps and colleagues at Stirling University recruited 20 five-year-old children and videoed them while they answered a range of verbal...
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OR, "why men are much greater consumers of pornography than women." Dr Petra? Dr Petra...? Paging Dr Petra... Too bad she's on vacation, she would certainly have a field day with this news story (and the original research that spawned it): Why men...