Why the eyes have it (2001)

Neuroscientists have discovered that eye-to-eye contact unleashes a burst of activity in the reward center of the brain

Romantic novelists rarely fail to include in their oeuvre that special moment when two strangers look into each other's eyes across a crowded room and feel the tingle of desire.

The Barbara Cartland school of writing has now been validated by science, for experts have discovered that eye-to-eye contact in fact unleashes a burst of activity in the reward center of the brain.

Neuroscientists at University College London asked eight female and eight male volunteers to look at photos of the faces of 40 different people who were either looking at the camera or gazing to one side.

While the volunteers looked at the pictures, they were given a scan with functional magnetic resonance imaging, which measures increased blood flows to the various parts of the brain and thus provides a "map" of cerebral activity.

The guinea pigs were then asked to rate the attractiveness of each face, and their score was matched against the scan.

The result: when volunteer had direct eye contact with the face, there was an increase of activity in the ventral striatum, a central part of the brain that anticipates reward or pleasure. But if the eyes did not meet, there was no activity in that brain area at all.

The activity increase occurred regardless of the gender of the face in direct eye contact.

However, there was a bigger-than-usual increase if the person giving the eye was found to be attractive. Activity in the ventral striatum surged, in an apparent sign of the sexual appetite being sharpened.

But if the cute person gazed to one side, the ventral striatum remained dormant, apparently disappointed that the stranger was clearly not interested.

Interestingly, the ventral striatum also perked up if a plug-ugly person gazed to one side, rather than looked at the volunteer right in the eyes. "Missing eye contact with an unattractive face may be a relief, and thus enhance activity," the researchers suggest.

神经学科学家发现目光的交流可以引起大脑的反应中枢产生一系列的反应。

浪漫主义小说家大多善于在作品中描写这样的场面：在一间拥挤的房间里，陌生男女随着目光的交汇，怦然心动。

被称为英国浪漫主义小说女王的巴巴拉-卡特兰学派作品现在已经被科学证实是符合事实的，因为专家们发现目光交流可以引起大脑反应中枢产生一系列的反应。

在一项实验中，伦敦大学的神经学科学家分别让8名男志愿者和8名女志愿者观察40个不同人的照片，照片上的人或者是眼睛盯着镜头或者是眼睛盯着一侧。

在这些实验者看照片的时候，科学家用一种功能磁性共振成影仪器对他们大脑不同部位的血流量进行测量，得出了大脑活动的图样。

然后，科学家让实验者给照片上每个人的容貌打分，分数的高低和大脑活动图是相匹配的。

结果是：如果实验者和照片上的人有过直接的目光交流，他们的前部纹状体活动频率就会增加。前部纹状体是大脑中产生成就感或者愉快情绪的重要部位。但是如果没有目光的交流，则大脑中根本就不会有任何反应。

不论与你进行目光交流的人是男还是女，只要进行直接的目光交流，大脑都会产生这种反应。

然而，如果与你对视对象非常迷人，那么你大脑中的反应就会更大一些。前部纹状体的活动迅速增强，这意味着性欲的加强。

但是，如果这个漂亮的人眼睛望着别处，那么你的前部纹状体就会处于休眠状态，你会认为照片上的人对你不感兴趣，而感到很失望。

有趣的是，如果照片中是一个相貌很丑的人眼睛望着别处，而不是直视实验者，那么前部纹状体同样会有明显的反应。研究者说："和一个丑陋的人避免进行目光交流可能是一种解脱，所以同样会引起大脑的反应。"