When we are shown two options, our eyes flick from one to the other and back again as we think about the pros and cons of each.
The researchers found that the speed with which our eyes dart between options gave away our true preference.
A saccade is a quick eye movement that allows you to read quickly, as your focus travels abruptly from word to word, fixingating briefly on some words before moving on to construct meaning from a block of text
Saccades are what happen during REM sleep.
Colin Korbisch is a mechanical engineer at the University of Colorado Boulder. It is a more direct measurement of the unconscious processes in your brain.
The researchers wanted to know if our eyes are a window into our mind. They were presented with a choice of a short walk up a steep grade or a longer walk on the flat.
They used a high-speed camera to track the eye movements of participants as they considered their options.
The saccades to either option were more vigorous initially. As time went on, that vigor increased and it increased even faster for the option they eventually chose.
The participants' eye speeds increased when cast in the direction of the easier option when the researchers offered a choice between two treadmill options.
Those who took less time to make a decision had quicker eye movements. The researchers think they're more impulsive.
After the participants had made their final decision, the rapid eye movements stopped, suggesting that the eyes were busy looking at information to make a decision.
When people are making decisions, the activity in the frontal eye field and the parietal cortex increases. The superior colliculus is suppressed when a preference is established in our brains. The researchers theorize that this increases eye speed.
"Real-time read-out of this decision-making process requires the placement of electrodes into the brain." The more easily measured variable opens a lot of possibilities.
The paper was published in a journal.
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