Impatient people have been found to have quicker eye movements compared to those who are not, a recent study concludes.
A recent study by researchers from Johns Hopkins University found that people with fast eye movements are less patient and are therefore more likely to make impulsive decisions. For their research, they gave 23 volunteers a series of tests and measured their saccades - the quick eye movements that occur when the eye focus on different objects. They found a strong correlation between the speed of the eye movement and patience.
"When I go to the pharmacy and see a long line, how do I decide how long I'm willing to stand there?" principal investigator Reza Shadmehr, a professor of biomedical engineering and neuroscience said. "Are those who walk away and never enter the line also the ones who tend to talk fast and walk fast, perhaps because of the way they value time in relation to rewards? It seems that people who make quick movements - at least eye movements - tend to be less willing to wait."
"Our hypothesis is that there may be a fundamental link between the way the nervous system evaluates time and reward in controlling movements and in making decisions. After all, the decision to move is motivated by a desire to improve one's situation, which is a strong motivating factor in more complex decision-making too." The results of their study was published in the journal of Neuroscience.
