There is something that makes you know when you have that direct eye contact with a person, even though they might stand meters away from you and you are surrounded by other people too.
What makes you know when you have that eye contact? Because even if there is someone that is standing almost right behind me I know when someone that is standing let’s say 6 meters away is looking at the other person or when they are looking at me.
In: Biology
Your brain is an insanely complex network of cells called neurons that can receive information, process it in various ways, and then pass on their work to other neurons.
What we call consciousness is the result of the neurons working together to transform the various physical senses into a rational understanding of the world.
There are specific neural network subgroups in your brain that are dedicated to detecting certain kinds of visual patterns, such as motion or alignment, or detecting shapes or faces.
We know these neuron clusters exist because it is possible to overstimulate and “exhaust” them, which can cause a false sense of motion in the opposite direction.
This is what is “setting off” the eye contact feeling, a cluster of neurons in your brain that have the job of detecting such patterns and sending out a priority alert to the consciousness when these patterns are found.
It is similar to having a bunch of concentric rings all shifting around randomly, but then suddenly coming into alignment for a moment, which makes them jump to the top of your attention priority.
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