We already know that a good side-eye can cut deeper than words. Now, researchers say that flash of intention in someone’s eyes isn’t just a gut feeling—it’s a real signal your brain can detect.
A new study out of McGill University shows that people can pick up on whether someone’s about to look left or right before they even move their eyes—and only when that glance is intentional. “We speculate…these very subtle motion signals are communicated very quickly,” senior author Jelena Ristic told Live Science.
In the study, researchers recorded people making both deliberate and instructed eye movements. Then they showed these videos, cut right before the eyes shifted, to new participants. When guessing which way someone was about to look, people were faster to predict direction when the movement was intentional. Even though nothing seemed to be happening on the surface, their brains were somehow picking up the signal.
Researchers think it’s because of subtle twitch-like shifts around the eyes, detectable only through close analysis. These micro-movements could be our brain’s way of catching intent, like spotting the faint wind-up before someone glances your way.
But that’s not where the story ends. When researchers tested whether people followed intentional glances faster than non-intentional ones, the answer was no. That means the brain might be processing intent and direction as two separate things entirely, suggesting we’re reading way more from someone’s eyes than just where they’re looking.
This ability to sense intention could be particularly relevant for understanding social disorders like autism or ADHD, where the brain may interpret or prioritize these visual cues differently. “This is one of the holy grail questions in the autism world,” Ristic said.
And here’s what makes this study even more fascinating: there are typical eye cues we already know, like raised eyebrows signaling surprise or dilated pupils revealing attraction. But this is next-level perception. Unlike blinking patterns or eyelid flutters that can broadcast emotion, these twitch-level pre-glance shifts communicate intention before a glance even happens.
It’s one thing to know when someone’s interested, nervous, or even lying—our pupils, blink rate, and gaze direction all tell that story. But this is different. This is your brain sensing the future, pulling signals from facial stillness, and making snap predictions about what’s coming next.
So next time you catch someone just about to look your way, there’s a decent chance your brain noticed it before their eyes ever moved. That’s the kind of sixth sense science is just beginning to measure.
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