Eye Contact From Comely
Stranger Excites the Brain
Excerpt By Melissa Schorr, Reuters Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Does locking eyes with a sexy stranger send shivers down your spine? A team of British neurologists explains why, reporting that an area of the brain reacts with eager anticipation when receiving a look from a stranger deemed attractive.

``Returned eye-gaze from an attractive face represents a more favorable result than expected, leading to enhanced responses,'' lead author Dr. Knut K. Kampe of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, told Reuters Health.

The researchers conducted brain scans using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on 8 males and 8 females while showing them pictures of 40 different strangers either looking directly at them or averting their glance. Their findings are published in the October 11th issue of Nature.

The investigators found that when a stranger was judged attractive (regardless of sex) and was looking directly at the person, there was more activity in the part of their brain known as the ventral striatum, an area linked to anticipation of reward.

Similarly, when the person deemed attractive had averted their eyes, the brain's ventral striatum reacted with reduced activity.

``Failing to make eye-contact with an attractive face is a disappointing outcome,'' Kampe explained.

The researchers theorize that based on these findings, the brain might also display activity indicating happiness when avoiding a glance from a stranger judged unattractive.

SOURCE: Nature 2001;413:589.

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