I just thought it was funny how you could be minding your business, then instinctively turn to the side and see someone turning away cause they were looking at you. You probably had no clue someone was looking at you, but you turned your head to look directly at someone who was anyway. How does this happen?
In: Biology
You’re constantly scanning for any kind of threat with your peripheral vision even if you’re not aware of it. Some things (like peripheral motion or eyes looking at you) are processed basically by hard-wired circuits in your brain which then cause you to outright look there to make sure.
People (as most animals) are extremely good at noticing someone or something looking at them and this already happens deep inside your visual processing circuits, without your consciousness being involved at all, in a kind of pattern recognition. It’s a survival instinct. Your conscious brain then only feels a kind of “tug” forcing you to turn your head around and take a real look.
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