
Eye contact during a date isn't necessarily important in both directions equally.
A speed-dating study used mobile eye-tracking to observe 60 people across 240 five-minute dates.
People were more likely to choose partners with whom they shared more mutual eye contact.
Interestingly, receiving eye contact independently predicted whether someone chose their date, while giving eye contact did not show the same effect.
This suggests that noticing someone looking at you may provide an especially important signal of their interest.
Sometimes it's not how much you look at your date—but how often you catch them looking at you.
© Archives of Sexual Behavior (2024)