Summary: Researchers examine how the eyes play a central role in emotional expression, social bonding and even mate selection.
Source: The Conversation
These days you may leave the house wearing a face mask that covers your mouth, which can make verbal and nonverbal communication more difficult—especially for people who rely on lipreading.
But the eyes remain visible. Shakespeare famously called the eyes “the windows to the soul.” While that may be poetic, science clearly shows the eyes convey a wealth of information about what someone is feeling or intending.
This is one reason poker players often wear dark glasses: to hide subtle “tells,” tiny cues that reveal whether they hold a strong hand or are bluffing. That intuition has scientific backing.
Our emotions are central to how we understand one another. Research demonstrates it is possible to infer people’s emotional states by studying the eyes alone. In a notable study from 2017, volunteers were shown images of eyes expressing emotions such as sadness, disgust, anger, joy, surprise and fear.
Participants were consistently able to match words describing mental states to the eye expressions. The study concluded that the eyes offer vital interpersonal information, and that features like eye openness and brow slope signal different mental states.
The brain mechanisms behind this are revealing. Humans are exceptionally sensitive to minute changes in another person’s gaze direction. When you judge where someone is looking, that process significantly activates the amygdala, a brain region long associated with emotion. This neural link underscores the close relationship between gaze and emotional processing.
The amygdala is well known for its role in fear and the “fight or flight” response, but it is also active when we monitor whether someone is looking toward us or shifting their gaze. That sensitivity likely evolved because reading another person’s gaze helps us assess interest, attraction or potential threat. In short, humans are wired to extract meaningful social and emotional cues from the eyes.
Chemistry also supports the eyes’ social importance. Oxytocin, a hormone produced naturally in the body, plays a role in social interaction and face perception. Research shows that people given oxytocin spend more time looking at faces’ eyes than those given a placebo. Since oxytocin supports social bonding, this behavior suggests the eyes help guide social engagement and strengthen interpersonal connection.
There is even evidence from interactions between humans and pets: when dogs and their owners look into each other’s eyes, oxytocin levels rise in both parties, which appears to strengthen the social bond. This effect has been observed with domesticated dogs that share close relationships with their owners and does not appear to occur with wolves, highlighting the role of shared social experience.
Some myths about reading the eyes
Not everything attributed to the eyes is accurate. One persistent myth from neurolinguistic programming claims that specific eye movements—such as looking up and to the right—reliably indicate deception. Controlled studies that filmed people telling true and false stories and tested whether observers could detect lies from eye movements found no reliable link between particular eye directions and lying.
So while the eyes convey much, they are not a foolproof lie detector. Accurate interpretation still requires context, attention to other cues and careful judgment.
In situations where face coverings are common, the eyes become even more important for social communication. We can often detect a genuine smile by observing the eyes, and that small signal of warmth and connection has become especially valuable. By focusing on gaze, eye shape and the expressions around the eyes, we can better understand others’ feelings and intentions even when mouths are hidden.
About this psychology research article
Source:
The Conversation
Contacts:
Nigel Holt – The Conversation
Image Source:
The image is in the public domain.