Singles around the world often face the dilemma of whether someone really likes them, or if the other party is just being polite. But according to scientists, there is an easy way to find out. Just look carefully into the eyes. According to Amanda Meyer and Monica Zimanya of James Cook University in Australia, the pupils dilate during sexual arousal.
“In every other novel, dilated pupils are commonly used as an image to express sexual arousal. And it’s not uncommon to read advice on the Internet that says that dilated pupils are a sure sign that someone likes you. But what does the science say?” It’s actually true: our pupils actually tend to dilate when we’re excited.” the authors stated in an article for The Conversation magazine.
“The muscle at the edge of the pupil acts as a sphincter. When stimulated by the parasympathetic nervous system, sometimes referred to as the rest and digest system, it contracts and constricts the pupil. There is another muscle on the outside of the sphincter that acts like the springs holding up the trampoline. When stimulated by the sympathetic nervous system, the fight-or-flight system, it contracts and dilates the pupil.” Meyer and Zimanyi explain.
According to scientists, pupils normally dilate in response to six stimuli: fight, flight, feeding, sex, getting a dose of addictive substances and concentration. However, how the eyes react to a person we like also depends on gender. In heterosexual men, the pupils dilate when looking at erotic images of women, while in homosexual men they respond to erotic images of men. Pupils of lesbian women also dilated during erotic images of men, and in heterosexual women they dilated during erotic images of both men and women.
