With face masks now becoming the norm in the UK, our London research team of eye-enthused experts carried out a study, which looked at the importance of eye expressions during this time. By interviewing 2,000 adults across the country, we wanted to find out if peepers really are the portal to your soul. And, our results revealed that they do in fact possess a lot of power, particularly when it comes to transmitting non-verbal signals.
Highlights of our findings included that more than two-thirds of adults struggle to see how someone is feeling when they have a mask on, and more than 6 in 10 adults admit to not having understood what someone was saying. Plus, 7 in 10 adults have been trying harder to study someones’ eyes to determine their mood, and a whopping 71% of interviewees agreed that the eyes are a key indicator of an expression.
Now that so much pressure is being placed on the eyes and their ability to communicate - it’s extremely important for us to know how to read them. By drawing on the help of a body language expert, Judi James, we’ve put together a list of tips to better understand any mask-wearing companion’s emotions with ease. Like if the person’s eyebrows are raised in an arch, with their eyes widened, they’re most likely surprised, or if their brows are pulled into a gentle frown, but the eye shape is softened, they’re probably concerned.
As we continue to incorporate face masks into our daily lives, our team have also whipped up a fun quiz to test your ability to recognise key everyday expressions via the eyes, of course. Find out now if you can decipher the true meaning behind a knitted brow or a dilated pupil, and follow us on social to let us know how you did: we're on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
