Eyes and Attention of Men and Women Meander in Distinctly Different Ways

Dr. Itti’s lab studied 34 participants as they watched videos of people being interviewed. Behind the interview subjects, within the video frame, pedestrians, bicycles and cars passed by — distractions included to pull attention away from the filmed conversation.

While participants watched and listened to the interview, another camera was pointed at participants’ eyes, recording the movement of their pupils as they glanced across the screen.

Researchers discovered the following:
• Men, when focused on the person being interviewed, parked their eyes on the speaker’s mouth. They tended to be most distracted by distinctive movement behind the interview subjects. 
• By contrast, women shift their focus between the interview subject’s eyes and body. When they were distracted, it was typically by other people entering the video frame.