Experts who used technology developed in Glasgow say they have discovered that the eyes can be a giveaway when it comes to identifying fear. Scientists, including Glasgow University’s Professor Philippe Schyns, looked at the case of a woman who had rare damage to part of her brain. They found she could only identify fear if asked to look at a person’s eyes. The research, which used 30 control subjects as well as the case study, was published in science journal Nature. Part of the experiment saw participants being shown images of faces with their eyes erased. The 38-year-old female case study had suffered bilateral damage to her amygdala - an almond-shape part of the brain in the temporal lobe. Although she is completely unable to recognise fear from facial expressions, the scientists found the problem could be overcome by instructing her to concentrate on a person’s eyes.
