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People are usually taught that staring at others is rude and impolite. Despite this social norm, it seems like people often feel that others are constantly staring at them, whether or not it is real. According to researchers from the University of Sydney and The Vision Center, when people are unsure about the people's gaze within their surroundings, their brains tend to signal to them that those people are staring.

"Gaze perception - the ability to tell what a person is looking at - is a social cue that people often take for granted. Judging if others are looking at us may come naturally, but it's actually not that simple - our brains have to do a lot of work behind the scene," said Colin Clifford, a professor from the University's School of Psychology.

People have to actively look for visual cues that the other person or persons are staring. These cues include studying the angle of the person's eyes and the direction of his/her head. Although these cues can indicate correctly that someone is staring, the researchers noticed that the brain takes over and assumes the act of staring when there are no useful visual cues. For example, when other people are wearing sunglasses or when it is dark, people believe that they are still being stared at even though they might not have any concrete proof.

In order to test people's gaze perception under limited conditions, the researchers presented participants with pictures of different faces. The participants were required to tell the researcher what the person in the picture was looking at. Each image was designed so that it was difficult to determine where the person was staring. The researchers found that the participants overwhelmingly believed that the picture was staring at them.

"We made it difficult for the observers to see where the eyes were pointed so they would have to rely on their prior knowledge to judge the faces' direction of gaze. It turns out that we're hard-wired to believe that others are staring at us, especially when we're uncertain," Clifford stated. "So gaze perception doesn't only involve visual cues - our brains generate assumptions from our experiences and match them with what we see at a particular moment."

The researchers explained that believing others are staring is not necessarily a sign of paranoia, but rather, an attempt to understand what other people, whether or not they are acquaintances or strangers, are thinking. The act of staring directly at someone is usually perceived as a threat and thus, by believing that others are staring, the person might be going into defense mode as a precautionary measure. The act of staring amongst acquaintances, family and friends might also indicate the desire for conversation and thus, by assuming they are staring, the individual has the opportunity to strengthen social interactions and relationships through engaging in conversation.

The study was published in Current Biology.