Scenario

No School Rules

You glanced. He never came over. It was not that you were invisible.

A girl looks at a boy she likes in a school hall. For her, that glance is a full signal — she has already seen him, placed him, and sent interest. He is still building a picture through a narrow central beam. The same glance looks like nothing. He walks on. Years later she still wonders why he never knew she existed.

What the science is doing

• Women take in a wide scene at once (landmarking). Men search one target at a time (orientation).
• Men have about 38% more macular pigment in the centre of the eye. Women have up to 40% more peripheral retinal nerve fibres.
• At a given instant he may be processing around a fifth of the visual field she is using.
• His mirror neurons then interpret a fast look-away through his own slower repertoire — as disinterest.