Have You Ever Felt Someone Was About to Look at You—Even Before They Moved Their Eyes?
It has been discovered that that feeling isn't just in your head. A recent study from McGill University has confirmed that humans are indeed capable of “reading” other people’s intentions just from their gaze—even before their eyes actually shift direction.
Published in the journal Communications Psychology, the study was led by Professor Jelena Ristic, a psychology expert at McGill who has spent over two decades researching human social behavior. Their findings offer new insight into the subtle yet powerful realm of nonverbal communication in social interactions.
The Eyes as Windows to the Mind
We’ve long known that eyes reveal a great deal—emotions, interest, even deception—and they’re often called the “windows to the soul.” But this time, researchers asked a deeper question: Can we detect someone’s intention just from the tiny movements around their eyes, before they actually shift their gaze?
To explore this, the research team recorded videos of people being asked to move their eyes left or right. Sometimes participants chose the direction freely (intentional movement), while at other times they followed specific instructions (non-intentional movement). The videos were then cut off just before the eyes actually moved, and shown to around 80 new participants.
Their task was simple: guess which direction the person in the video was going to look. The results? Predictions were significantly faster when the eye movement was intentional. Even though the difference was only a matter of milliseconds, it was enough to prove that our brains can pick up on subtle cues of intent almost instantly.
Micro-Movements, Major Meaning
So what exactly is the brain picking up on? Ristic and her team suspect that, before someone intentionally shifts their gaze, micro-movements—like slight tension in the muscles around the eyes—occur in a way that’s different from when someone is simply following instructions.
Interestingly, these movements are so small they’re barely visible to the naked eye. Yet through detailed video analysis, the researchers found that intentional gazes involved more activity around the eye area.
Intention vs. Direction: Two Separate Pathways?
In a follow-up experiment with a new group of participants, the research team set out to determine whether we’re also faster at following someone’s gaze when the movement is intentional. The answer? No.
Although we can more quickly anticipate someone’s intention before their eyes move, our speed in following the direction of their gaze remains the same—whether the movement is intentional or not. This suggests that the brain may process “direction” and “intention” along two separate pathways: one part of the brain interprets where someone is looking, while another part interprets why they’re looking there.
Social Implications: From Evolution to Autism
These findings offer valuable insight into how humans communicate without words. In fact, Ristic speculates that this ability might have served as an early survival mechanism, where eye gaze could convey warnings or intentions silently—a vital skill when trying to avoid predators.
Beyond that, the study may help us better understand neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism or ADHD. Individuals with these conditions often struggle to interpret social cues. By identifying the specific stage at which this information processing differs, researchers hope to develop more effective intervention strategies or social training programs.
What’s Next?
The next step for the McGill team is to delve deeper into the mechanics of eye movement: how fast the eyes move, the angle of the shift, blinking patterns, and even the differences between when someone intends to deceive versus to help. They aim to discover whether such intentions leave behind distinct physical traces that can be scientifically detected.
This may seem like a small study, but its impact is far-reaching. It reveals that human communication is far more complex than spoken words alone—and that our eyes contain an invisible wealth of information that can reveal what’s on someone’s mind or in their heart.
This might be a kind of “body code” that we unconsciously learn and interpret as part of our social language.
