Eye contact is considered to be one of the most effective ways of communicating our feelings, thoughts and emotions to other people. To determine the reason behind this expressive phenomenon, researchers from Kyoto University have studied the act of gazing.

In the latest research, participants were asked to either ignore other people's stare or gaze back as they play word games. They were later instructed to take verbs that are linked with particular words such as "knife" being associated with the action "stab" or "cut." According to the observation, the participants found it hard to find words while making eye contact especially when the level of difficulty of the task was raised. For instance, there are many verbs that can be linked with the word "hand."

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The researchers said that "Although eye contact and verbal processing appear independent, people frequently avert their eyes from interlocutors during conversation. This suggests that there is interference between these processes."

The results of the study suggest that gazing has an impact on a person's cognitive effort. The scientists added that spoken words, thoughts, and the act of staring are all linked with one another.

A study conducted by Giovanni Caputo revealed that looking at other people's eyes can cause mediative perception as participants saw themselves in the face of their partners. This may be associated with neural adaptation where the brain cells are decelerated or totally halted when stimulated. During this state, people change their perceptions and see features that are not theirs in the eyes of other people.

Gazing is an act of looking into the eyes of another human. Many people believe that eyes serve as a door to a person's soul which suggests that gazing could help in revealing their intentions and feelings. 

The study about gazing and how it affects communication was published in the journal Cognition.