Our world is full of amazing mysteries, and one of them, still unsolved to this day, concerns kissing. The overwhelming majority of us close our eyes while kissing — only a few enjoy watching their partner’s reaction mid-kiss. Scientists and psychologists have spent years trying to explain why.
Their experiments have turned up some fascinating findings. One of them: by closing our eyes when we kiss, we actually protect our brain from being overloaded. Without this reflex, many of us would be overwhelmed by the sheer rush of emotion. AdmiGram.com breaks down what researchers have learned about kissing with our eyes closed.
Why Do We Kiss with Closed Eyes?
© lucas Favre / Unsplash
There are three leading theories that explain why we close our eyes while kissing:
- It’s an instinctive reaction. Our eyelids close involuntarily as a way of shielding the mind from a flood of emotion. During a kiss, the brain goes into sensory overload, and closing our eyes is the body’s automatic way of easing that load.
- Our eyes can’t focus at such close range. When someone’s face is just inches from ours, our vision simply can’t focus on it. Rather than stare at a blurry, distorted image of our partner’s face, our brain shuts that input down — and fills in something far more pleasant in its place.
- The brain can’t fully process sight and touch at the same time. This one actually has research behind it. Cognitive psychologists Polly Dalton and Sandra Murphy of Royal Holloway, University of London ran an experiment where participants completed a visual task while also trying to notice small vibrations on their hands. The more demanding the visual task, the less sensitive people were to what they were feeling. As Dalton explained it, shutting out visual input frees up mental resources for whatever else we’re experiencing — which may be exactly what’s happening when we close our eyes to focus fully on a kiss.
So go ahead — kiss and hug more often. It really does feel amazing.
image on top: Julian Hochgesang / Unsplash
