EYES CAN GIVE SECRETS AWAY

Taupo Times, Volume XIV, Issue 67, 26 August 1965, Page 10

EYES CAN GIVE SECRETS AWAY

A new way of reading minds by studying eyes is being tested in the United States.

It is founded on the scientific observation that the pupils of a person's eyes can reveal his interest — or otherwise — in what he is seeing. Researchers have discovered that the pupils widen to denote interest or approval, and shrink when the person is bored or annoyed. Such mind-reading is expected to become a valuable aid in treating the emotionally disturbed and the insane. Advertising men see it as an inexpensive way to test the effectivness of new products and selling campaigns before committing them to the public. A magazine pin-up picture had a part in the tests. Dr Eckhard Hess, Pr6fessor of Psychology at Chicago Universlty, tested his stilldeveloping theory on a male student who entered his office one day five years ago. The professor had a collection of black-and-white

pictures of landscapes plus one black-and-white pin-up girl from a magazine. One by one the pictures were flipped in front of the student. " When I came to the bare Miss October his pupils opened enormously," the professor said. To doubters of his findings, Dr Hess says: "I have offered 100 dollars to any normal male student in my labo - ratory if he can make his pupils contract when I flash Miss October. " I have not had to pay out once in five years. " Men respond more to landscapes than women. Pictures of sharks enlarge their pupils almost as much as Miss October did.