Love or lust? Eyes will tell

Eyes may tell the difference between love and lust, according to a new study. University of Chicago researchers found that eye patterns concentrate on a stranger's face if the viewer sees that person as a potential partner in romantic love, but the viewer gazes more at the other person's body if he or she is feeling sexual desire. That automatic judgement can occur in as little as half a second, producing different gaze patterns."Although little is currently known about the science of love at first sight or how people fall in love, these patterns of response provide the first clues regarding how automatic attentional processes, such as eye gaze, may differentiate feelings of love from feelings of desire toward strangers," said lead author Stephanie Cacioppo, director of the UChicago High-Performance Electrical NeuroImaging Laboratory.