Your turn to kiss

Kissing is something we do many times and in many different ways. You kiss your romantic partner but you also kiss friends, relatives, and children. There is even that business acquaintance that you know who insists on going in for a cheek kiss every time you see them; but we won’t talk about them. Kissing is ubiquitous phenomenon and it is also a well-studied phenomenon. We know for instance that romantic couples tend to turn their head to the right when kissing. In a new study though researchers wanted to establish if we turn different ways according to the relationship we have with our kiss-ee; for instance what direction do parents turn to kiss their child and what direction do parents turn when they kiss each other?

To conduct their study the researchers simply analysed hundreds of pictures from the internet of kissing couples and parents and children.

They found that parents continue to turn right when they kiss each other, so the right-hand turn of the romantic phase is not altered in any way by the joys of parenthood.

We know that when couples enter into the new phase of a relationship there is heightened activity in left anterior cingulate cortex and caudate regions and therefore right-turned kisses might be associated with increased use of the brain’s left hemisphere.

However, the analysis showed that parents tend to turn left when kissing their children. The researchers think this is probably a learned behaviour because parents most commonly cradle their child in their left arm and therefore turn left to kiss them from the time they are born.

All of which goes to show, if you want to retain a romantic view of the world, don’t ask a scientist about it.