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Eye contact is an event when two people look at each other's and has a large influence on Social Behavior . Frequency and interpretation of eye contact vary between cultures. In many species, eye contact is often perceived as a threat. All programs to prevent dog bites recommend avoiding direct eye contact with an unknown dog.http://www.birthpsychology.com/primalhealth/primal17.html SOCIAL MEANINGS OF EYE CONTACT Eye contact and Facial Expression s provide important Social and emotional information; people, perhaps without consciously doing so, probe each other's eyes and faces for positive or negative Mood signs. In some contexts, the meeting of eyes arouses strong emotions. In some parts of the world, particularly in East Asia Japan, and China , eye contact can provoke major misunderstandings between people of different nationalities. Keeping direct eye contact with a work supervisor or elderly people leads them to assume you are being aggressive and rude — the opposite reaction of most Americans or Europeans. Eye contact is also an important element in Flirting , where it serves to establish and gauge the other's interest. There is a longstanding cliché about locking eyes with a "stranger across a crowded room", which originated with the song " Some Enchanted Evening " from the 1949 musical '' South Pacific '' . THE EFFECTIVENESS OF EYE CONTACT Physiological explanation The size of the Pupil s may reveal a great deal about a person's current state. Strong Emotion s, convictions, and Mood s often stimulate the Sympathetic Nervous System and cause dilation of the pupils. In response to a threat or fear, this is often called the Fight Or Flight Response , and has an effect on the appearance of the eye. The pupil may dilate if a person sees something (or someone) of interest or is Aroused , thus making eye contact much more intense than it already is. Studies have shown that humans (especially Female s) are judged as more Attractive if their pupils are more dilated than is normal; Belladonna was and sometimes is still used cosmetically in some cultures to provoke pupil dilation. Mother/child eye contact Although some assert that children often respond to their Mother 's eyes from the moment of Birth and that Babies instinctively Smile at black Geometric spots — perceiving them as "eyes" by six weeks of Age , a 1985 study published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology suggested that "3-month-old infants are comparatively insensitive to being the object of another's visual regard".http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=4031786&dopt=Abstract A 1996 Canadian study with 3 to 6 month old infants found that smiling in the infants decreased when adult eye contact was removed.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9022223&query_hl=3 A recent British study in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience found that face recognition by infants was facilited by direct gaze.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15509381&query_hl=3 Other recent research has confirmed the belief that the direct gaze of adults influences the direct gaze of infants.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15845105&query_hl=3http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12428707&query_hl=3 Other explanations Communicating attention A person's direction of gaze may indicate to others where his or her Attention lies. Facilitating learning Recent studies suggests that eye contact has a positive impact on the retention and recall of information and may promote more efficient learning.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16081035&query_hl=6http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16243041&query_hl=2http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15958872&query_hl=2 In animal behavior, extended staring is considered generally either a challenge or a sexual signal. Primatologists sometimes refer to the brief period of staring between two individuals about to mate as the "precopulatory gaze." CULTURAL DIFFERENCES In Islam, . In many cultures it is respectful to not look the dominant person in the eye, but in Western Culture this can be interpreted as being "shifty-eyed", and the person judged badly because "he wouldn't look me in the eye".http://careerfocus.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7454/273 EYE AVERSION AND MENTAL PROCESSING A study by University Of Stirling Psychologists found that children who avoid eye contact while considering their responses to questions had higher rates of correct answers than children who maintained eye contact.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4602178.stm BBC News (citing research published in the ''British Journal of Developmental Psychology'') One researcher theorized that looking at human faces requires a lot of mental processing, which detracts from the cognitive task at hand. Researchers also noted that a blank stare indicated a lack of understanding. MISC In Adult s, eye contact shows Personal involvement and creates intimate Bonds . Mutual gaze narrows the Physical Gap between humans. Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris invented a device called the Interrotron which allowed his interview subjects to look directly into the camera while being filmed. It allows the film's viewers to maintain eye contact with the people in Morris' films, giving what some describe as a more intimate acquaintance with them. INTERSPECIES EYE CONTACT The eye contact between non-human mammals and between humans and other mammals is also well documented. Young children may be more likely to fall victim to dog attacks because they maintain eye contact, which the dog perceives as aggression, says a report in the ''New Zealand Medical Journal''. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm In many species, eye contact is often perceived as a threat. In the 1990’s, black bears returned to Catoctin Mountain Park, in Maryland, after a twenty-year absence. An important recommendation to visitors is to avoid direct eye contact if the bear stands on its hind legs. Chimpanzees use eye contact to signal aggression in hostile encounters, and staring at them in a zoo can induce agitated behavior.http://www.birthpsychology.com/primalhealth/primal17.html Comparisons with other mammals reveals that homo sapiens secretes tears as an emotional response. Other terrestrial mammals do not express their emotions by weeping. Also the diameter of the pupil is highly dependent on the hormonal balance, and therefore on the emotional state as is the iris colour. REFERENCES
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