Feeling of being watched 'hardwired in brain'

The feeling that other people are staring at you is hard-wired into your brain, even if no one is paying you the slightest bit of attention, scientists have found. 

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The feeling that others are watching us is an evolutionary mechanism designed to keep us alert and ready for interaction before it really happens, experts said.

While we usually keep on our guard by monitoring the position of people's heads and the direction of their gaze, certain conditions such as darkness or someone wearing sunglasses can make this impossible.

But a study found that in these circumstances our brain intervenes to make us feel as if we are being watched, to keep us prepared for potential threats.

Prof Colin Clifford, a psychologist at the University of Sydney who led the research, explained: "It turns out we're hard-wired to believe others are staring at us.

"A direct gaze can signal dominance or a threat, and if you perceive something as a threat, you would not want to miss it. So simply assuming another person is looking at you may be the safest strategy."

The researchers asked a group of volunteers to determine in which direction a series of faces were looking, without being able to clearly see where the eyes were focused.
Even when it was hard to tell where they were really looking, the participants felt as if they were being watched, the scientists reported in the Current Biology journal.
Further studies will be aimed at establishing whether the tendency is a learned behaviour or a genetic trait, which could shed light on why people with autism sometimes struggle to tell if someone is looking at them, or why people with social anxiety are more prone to feeling as if they are being watched, Prof Clifford said.