Dramas and slotxoromantic novels often say that When our eyes meet with someone who is attractive At that moment, time will slow down as if the world stopped spinning.

but in real life We tend to make eye contact with strangers we feel more indifferent because it is a common coincidence in public.

However, a team of psychologists from Switzerland's University of Geneva (UNIGE) suspects that How will our perception of time occur in the latter case? Will the sight of a stranger who does not give us any special love or hate will make me feel that time is slowing down or moving faster than it really is?

In a small group experiment with 22 volunteers, they were asked to look at 40 faces of unknown people, 300 of which were animated images.

Some of the images used for testing At first, it will send its gaze the other way. Before turning to stare directly at the screen and make intense eye contact with the volunteers. But some images have the opposite characteristics. The subject looks at the camera briefly before quickly turning his gaze away.

After viewing each picture The volunteers were required to estimate the amount of time they had made eye contact with the person in the photo. The result showed that the stranger looked the other way before turning to look at the camera. This caused most of the volunteers to feel a brief moment of eye contact, as if time had passed quickly. which does not match what actually happened

The researchers also said in a report published in the journal Cognition, saying that several of their trials had confirmed the results. Even if the person in the picture has no face frame. and only the part of the eye that moves back and forth can be seen The subjects also felt that the eye contact time was slightly shorter than the reality. This situation is similar to people's eye contact nowadays. that each wear masks to prevent infection with COVID-19

but looking at objects that do not convey social meaning and eye contact with people in still images whose eyes do not move Does not distort the perception of time in any way.

The research team concluded that “We have a distorted perception of time when making eye contact with strangers. It's not because there's any kind of emotional involvement, but the process of focusing that takes place in the brain. It distorts our perception of time to make us feel that it is shorter than what actually happened.”

"The data obtained from this experiment It will be useful for the application of diagnostic tools and treatment for people who have eye contact problems. such as autistic patients schizophrenia or those who have anxiety about the use of eyes to communicate and socialize."