This is why we usually keep our eyes closed when we kiss

Ah, kissing. One of life’s greatest pleasures. But one thing’s for sure, kissing with your eyes open sure is a bit, well…odd.

Maybe you’ve just always taken it for granted that we all close our eyes when it comes to kissing time, or maybe you’ve thought about it on more than one occasion. Is he/she staring at me right now? Should I look at them? Will that be weird?

Well, leave it to science to unravel yet another one of life’s little mysteries. A new study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance is giving us the answer to this lip-locked secret.

Psychologists Sandra Murphy and Polly Dalton gathered some volunteers, attached some small vibrations to their hands, and asked them to partake in some letter-searching tasks. The more complex the letter-search was, the less they felt the vibrations, mainly because their brains were more focused on the visual task. Basically, your brain will more often than not focus on what your brain is perceiving through your eyes than it will on what other parts of your body are sensing. So when you kiss, because you want it to be enjoyable and feel good, you instinctively close your eyes to allow for increased sensitivity of the lips (and possibly of other body parts as well).

Pretty simple, right? So the next time you’ve got someone worth kissing, don’t forget to keep your eyes closed for the full effect.