Understanding the Science Behind Staring: Causes and Biological Factors

[Kerrie]

What causes "staring"?

You know how one will just focus their eyes on something and disconnect for a few moments? Why do we do this? Is there any biological factors to it?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Some time ago we had some discussion and a link about the "second mind" that takes over for things like driving, and other automatic activities, while we seemingly become unaware of our surroundings and what we are doing. Is this the same kind of thing that you refer to here?

 

[Monique]

Well, staring into someones eyes is very dominant behaviour so we naturally avoid doing this. For objects, I think that the brain gains interest in objects just outside the field of vision and will quickly inspect them.

 

[Tsu]

I ran a google search on 'medical causes of 'staring' and got a bunch of interesting hits. Among them, petite mal seizures cause 'staring'!
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000696.htm

and it is also a symptom of Reyes syndrome. There are a number of medical conditions, such as AVM, which cause transient 'staring' episodes. I don't know why our optic nerve just seems to 'disconnect' from the optic chiasm when we begin to just 'stare off into space' - especially without one of the medical problems which will exacerbate the problem. I say, let's get Greg to buy us our own PF PET scanner and I will run some tests on a bunch of us!111

 

[thunderfvck]

I call it trancing out. When I get into trance mode, I never really look at anything. Like Ivan said, it feels as though a second mind takes over or something. I'm never really thinking, or looking into anything in particular, I just stare straight ahead, unblinking, hardly breathing. I have trances quite often after I'm completely drained of my serotonin, or extremely "out of it" by other means. I say serotonin because after taking MDMA, I get EXTREMELY trancey. Maybe it's the lack of sleep too, hmm...

I think it's just a place where you can be alone in your head. You totally ignore other stimuli, and just let your thoughts flow. It's comforting to forget the world that's screaming around you...Maybe it's a result of thinking all these years too...How many people actually look around sporadically when they're trying to think? I tend to just sit and stare, and occasionally, maybe it's become a part of our behaviour and has given us the chance to shut the world up for just a second.