Interest is a feeling or

emotion Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definitio ...

that causes

attention Attention is the behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether considered subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information. William James (1890) wrote that "Att ...

to focus on an object, event, or process. In contemporary psychology of interest, the term is used as a general concept that may encompass other more specific psychological terms, such as

curiosity Curiosity (from Latin '' cūriōsitās'', from ''cūriōsus'' "careful, diligent, curious", akin to ''cura'' "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human ...

and to a much lesser degree surprise. The emotion of interest does have its own

facial expression A facial expression is one or more motions or positions of the muscles beneath the skin of the face. According to one set of controversial theories, these movements convey the emotional state of an individual to observers. Facial expressions are ...

, of which the most prominent component is having dilated pupils.

Applications in computer assisted communication and B-C interface

In 2016, an entirely new communication device and brain-computer interface was revealed, which required no visual fixation or eye movement at all, as with previous such devices. Instead, the device assesses more covert interest, that is by assessing other indicators than eye fixation, on a chosen letter on a virtual keyboard. Each letter has its own (background) circle that is micro-oscillating in brightness in different time transitions, where the determination of letter selection is based on the best fit between first, unintentional pupil-size oscillation pattern and second, the circle-in-background's brightness oscillation pattern. Accuracy is additionally improved by the user's mental rehearsing of the words 'bright' and 'dark' in synchrony with the brightness transitions of the circle/letter.

Measurement of sexual interest

In social science measurement methodology, when the intensity of (sexual) interest needs to be measured, the changes in pupil size – despite its weaker, but still consistent, correlations with other measures such as self-reported measures of sexual interest's orientation – have been proposed as its appropriate measure.Rieger, Gerulf; Savin-Williams RC (2012
''The Eyes Have It: Sex and Sexual Orientation Differences in Pupil Dilation Patterns''

Public Library of Science PLOS (for Public Library of Science; PLoS until 2012 ) is a nonprofit publisher of open-access journals in science, technology, and medicine and other scientific literature, under an open-content license. It was founded in 2000 and laun ...

ONE 7(8): e40256. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0040256 San Francisco

References

External links

A theory of different stages of interest
(from noticing something, wondering about it, being curious, to being fascinated, astonished, and, in ecstasy) {{Authority control Emotions

Applications in computer assisted communication and B-C interface

Measurement of sexual interest

See also

References

External links