I know it sounds like an obvious question, but how is it that you can tell, from the positioning of someone's eyeballs, whether they are looking directly at you or not? The difference in someone's eye position between a direct stare and an averted gaze must be very subtle. Yet we can differentiate it, even at a distance. It seems even more incredible when you consider that most people's eyeballs are almost totally obscured by their eylids and eyelashes, and the pupil is not even centrally located within the eye opening, and only a small amount of the white of the eyeball is normally visible.
It may also have something to do with the phenomenom of the Portrait's eyes which follow you around the room.
Is there any research on this topic, and in what field would it be in?
2006-12-21 00:43:23 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science ➔ Psychology
It is a sixth-sense build into us as a mechanism of defense...and left there since the days we were living in the jungle.
Try to stare at a cat or dog with his back turn on you...and he knows you are staring at him.
2006-12-21 00:48:52 · answer #1 · answered by Aussies-Online 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
In the beginning we had a thrid eye or so the story goes it was located in the back of our head and we can still sense and tell....when someone is staring at us and then there is the theory through lights coming from our brain like a radar and all this sound so un real but it is a theory,
2006-12-21 08:50:03 · answer #2 · answered by Gypsy Gal 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
hmm.. an interesting question. (you've got me thinking!)
my thought on this is that when someone is directly staring at us, there is some kind of communication going between (of course if the other person knows he's being stared at). similarly, when it comes to paintings, the artist wants the viewer and the painting to have a sort of connection (hence communication) between them depending on the 'feel/impact' the wants painter wants to give. (its freaky though, when portraits seem to stare at us...)
2006-12-21 09:05:33 · answer #3 · answered by Lena 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My guess would be the you can feel the energy coming out of there eyeballs. And if they stare to long you feel heat from the red laser beams.
2006-12-21 08:52:14 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because a person's stare has weight and energy. That is what you are feeling. It is odd that we can do this, I don't have any reason for it, but it happens a lot. It's kind of cool. Like a superpower or something.
2006-12-21 13:44:43 · answer #5 · answered by sexmagnet 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think its because humans always look other people in the eyes. If you look past someone (they're not in focus) and they then turn and look past you, you can't tell if they are looking into your eyes or not and they look you in the eyes to see if you are, you then notice them looking at you and look into their eyes and your eyes meet. Also I think its to do with your body language. If your eyes meet with another persons you will do something, usually just look away and figet or something. I saw someone was looking at me so I looked up and our eyes met then I quickly looked away, but then I relised that she was still looking at me so I looked up again and our eyes met again but she didn't react she just kept staring into space (like daydreaming) and because she didn't do anything I knew she wasn't looking at me. So I think its all down to subconcious body language.
2006-12-21 09:06:18 · answer #6 · answered by ukcufs 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because we have eyes, whoooooooo spooky.
2006-12-21 08:48:04 · answer #7 · answered by Stay Puft Marshmallow Man 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
because we are alert
2006-12-21 09:15:15 · answer #8 · answered by Mel 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
uh.
2006-12-21 08:46:08 · answer #9 · answered by john 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋