Tue
Aug 7 2012 9:15am
3 comments
Morning Coffee

“Eye” Love You: Pupils Dilate to Reveal Romantic Interest

Megan Frampton

There’s something to it when heroes or heroines gaze into their potential significant others’ eyes and see the pupils expand: Science finds that

“Pupil dilation is an accurate indicator of sexual orientation...When people look at erotic images and become aroused, their pupils open up in an unconscious reaction.”

So next time you want to see if your potential hero is interested in you? Don’t look down; look straight into his eyes.

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3 comments
Darlene Marshall
1. darlenemarshall
view all by darlenemarshall | Tuesday August 07, 2012 09:11am EDT
This is one reason why women used to put belladonna (atropine) drops in their eyes. It dilates the pupils, and when the user would speak to a man he'd unconsciously respond to the signal of sexual arousal sent by her dilated eyes.

Or as I said to my husband after my last visit to the ophthalmologist, "I've either been refracted or I'm very glad to see you...or both."
Megan Frampton
2. MFrampton
view all by MFrampton | Tuesday August 07, 2012 09:35am EDT
@darlenemarshall--! I knew women used to do that, but had never thought about why. That is so cool to know!
Jeannie Lin
3. Jeannie Lin
Friday August 10, 2012 08:44am EDT
They've done studies showing the same pictures of people with pupils dialated and not-dialated to test subjects. The ones with dialation were scored on average as more attractive than the same picture undialated. So the conclusion is that people may be unconsciously aware of this signal of sexual attraction and respond in kind.

Anyway, when romance novels describe a gaze darkening, I always figure that's what's happening. Your eyes do get darker because the pupils enlargen- and it doesn't go unnoticed!
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