One of the smartest people I know — we’ll call her Michelle — sucks at maintaining eye contact. Even though eye contact ranks high on the average list of tips for how to make a good first impression. Even though eye contact nonverbally indicates attention. Interest. Engagement.Even though, if nothing else, maintaining eye contact is polite.None of that seems to matter to Michelle. She rarely makes eye contact. Occasionally, sure, but most of the time she looks away. And she refuses — refuses — to take part in one-on-one Zoom meetings unless video is turned off. Odd? Maybe. Rude? Seemingly.But then there’s this: Research recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (h/t to Adam Grant) shows that during the most engaging conversations, eye contact ebbs and flows.As the researchers write:… when two people converse, their pupils periodically synchronize, marking moments of shared attention. As synchrony peaks, eye contact occurs and synchrony declines, only to recover as eye contact breaks.
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