#science section

Oasis: 10 Years of Noise and Confusion with Gary Crowley ▪︎ 2001

They made our lads share the same glass of water throughout the interview; they must have been on a very tight budget...

"90% of human sensory input arrives via the visual system. The other four senses - auditory, tactile, taste and olfactory are obligated to "share" the other 10%. Moreover, 40% of the mass of the human brain is committed to vision. Therefore, when the eyes are closed, a temporary and slight increase in blood flow occurs, as well as an enhancement of neural-electrical activity with the four non-visual senses. This temporary change also happens in both cognitive and emotional portions of the brain."

Therefore, when a person closes their eyes during a sincere hug (or other forms of affection), their psyches are very much striving to get every bit of emotion out of that moment and interaction. This doesn't occur in non-affectionate hugging. If a person does not close their eyes during a hug, they are not emotionally engaged."

"In the act of closing the eyelids, we are trying to 'drink in' the full emotion of the moment. We are trying to maximise our hug experience."

"There are several things you should see during a hug when true love and affection are felt. One of these is a touching of the heads and necks accompanied by a bending of the necks. It's as if you're trying to get the maximum surface area possible in contact with the other person. This is true between a parent and a child as well as in romantic adult relationships. The persistent absence of this highly characteristic body language signal is particularly worrisome. When hugs between lovers begin to lack the head, neck, upper chest contact or show diminishing eyelid closure, the love is waning."

Dr Jack Brown, Body Language and Emotional Intelligence Expert