The real reason people close their eyes when they kiss is because the brain can't deal with more than two things at once.

 

接吻时闭眼的真正原因是大脑无法同时处理两件以上的事。

 

That is the finding of academics who have explored one of the great mysteries of the human psyche¹.

 

When people pucker² up the brain finds it difficult to process the sensation if cognitive³ power is also being used to analyse what we see, said psychologists from Royal Holloway, University of London.

 

'Tactile⁴ awareness⁵ depends on the level of perceptual load in a concurrent⁶ visual task,' said Polly Dalton and Sandra Murphy, from the university, in the Journal of Experimental Psychology⁷: Human Perception and Performance.

 

The cognitive psychologists reached their conclusion without studying people actually kissing.

 

Instead people were asked do visual tests while their response to something touching⁸ their hands was measured.

 

The academics found that the visual field overrides⁹ tactile responses - meaning people would struggle to continue kissing if what they were looking at became more difficult to process.

 

Dr Dalton told The Sunday Times: 'If we are focusing strongly on a visual task, this will reduce our awareness of stimuli¹⁰ in other senses.

 

'It is important for designers to be aware of these effects, because auditory and tactile alerts are often used in situations of high visual demand, such as driving a car or flying an aircraft.'

 

The findings could also explain why people often shut their eyes whilst reading braille or when dancing.

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