The feeling of being observedeven when we know we are alone, it is so particular and evocative that it has also inspired great literature, as in the disturbing story by Guy de Maupassant, “Le Horla”
“All of a stroke I had the impression that Someone was following mewalked behind me, close enough to be able to touch me. (…) And suddenly I heard, I was sure that he was reading from above my shoulder, who was close there and touched my ear. “
Like him, we also sometimes fall victim to this singular feeling of being observed, but where does it come from? It is a deceit of the human brain, equipped with specific areas Active already in the first months of life and fundamental for our development, which allow us to recognize if someone is looking at us and interpret the looks of those close to us to understand their intentions. In short: the brain creates “false alarms” for predict potential dangers. This monitoring of the faces and the gaze of others, also linked to the Pareidolia, is crucial in one deeply social species Like ours.
What does it mean if we feel observed: the deception that protects us
There are signs that for us humans are so important that evolution has meant that the brain dedicated specific areas to their processing. For a social species like ours is fundamental to recognize the faces When we see one, or know where our fellow man is looking at, for anticipate any threats or understand the intentions of those in front of us: a worried look in the direction of a bush can mean the presence of a snake; A threatening look directed towards us could mean an aggressive intention.
Knowing how to steal a look It is therefore for us and for our evolutionary history a central capacity: to notice a predator or a enemy Which observes you could mean the difference between life and death. In our evolutionary history this ability has become so crucial that the brain prefers to create “false alarms“.
In general, the more one is importantthe more we predict Attention to each minimum signal which concerns her. We think about when we wait for a package with something we want so much: we will probably have the impression that the intercom sounds several times even if it is not true, because any similar noise leads us to believe that it is really playing: ours Alert threshold is highand we cannot risk not opening to the courier!
The importance of this “alert” in our brain is the same that explains to us also why we are brought to see faces everywhere, in the clouds, in the veins of the wood or between the rocks: this phenomenon called also Pareidolia It is aillusion subconscious that the human brain automatically produces. The importance that has to locate human faces for us in our visual spectrum is so high that too what looks like a face (but that it is not) activates our brain region dedicated to the recognition of faces e It makes us feel “observed”.
How does the brain detect a look?
Our brain is so sensitive to the human eyes that we have areas And network specific brain that are activated when Let’s see or perceive to be observed. The upper temporal furrow (STS) deals with elaborating visual signals Like the direction of the gaze, the body movements and the expressions of the face, and works in parallel with theamigdala who plays an important role of interpretation of emotions from the eyes and face, in particular for the expressions of fear.
A study published in Brain has in fact managed to establish that the amygdala, in particular the right one, is more active when the subject perceives one Direct gaze towards itself. Another area, the Fusiform Face Area (FFA), is instead specialized in recognizing the human faces.
This high sensitivity and specialization in recognizing faces and looks explains why we end up perceiving them even when there are not, capabilities that can sometimes lead to real ailments, such as the PURPOSE, That is, the fear of being observed.
The importance of eyes for humans
We would not know if the eyes are the mirror of the soul, but they are certainly among the elements of the body that transmit More information: tiredness, well -being, direction of attention, presence of threats. Even many of the emotions we express pass from the eyes and the gaze.
Already from very young we can read some intentions looking at the eyes of others. An experiment of 2011 published on British Journal of Developmental Psychology He says that around 18 months we are able to use the eye movements of the adults who are next to us to predict the arrival of something, based on the direction of their gaze. Being able to follow the gaze is also fundamental in all those operations of shared attention that emerge a few months after birth, and that allow us to focustogether with an adult or other children, on a object and explore it jointly.
Then there is ahypothesiscall Eye Hypothesis cooperativeswhich claims that our typical Conformation of the eye (unique among primates, with one sclera white without pigmentation, clearly visible and well contrasted with respect to the iris) are Evolutionally selected as an advantage to facilitate thesocial interaction And cooperative, just to make it easier to perceive and follow the gaze of others.
