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When people look away while answering a hard question, others often assume they are avoiding the conversation, hiding something, or being untruthful. There is, however, another possible explanation. This presents a behavioral interpretation as if it were a fact rather than a theory or possibility. Breaking eye contact may help people conserve mental resources for solving the problem at hand.

A 1998 study published in the journal found that people often avert their gaze while trying to remember information. Researchers Arthur M. Glenberg, John L. Schroeder, and D. A. Robertson suggested that looking away may help people disengage from their surroundings and focus more effectively on the task of remembering.

Glenberg, Schroeder, and Robertson argued that averting gaze was linked to improved performance because it helped people disengage from environmental stimulation, allowing greater focus on the mental task at hand.

How do averted gazes benefit the brain?

When humans engage in a dialogue, there is much more happening than the actual words. Eye contact carries a lot of nonverbal meaning, alongside the words being spoken.

That extra processing is often not a problem in casual conversation. However, when a person needs to recall a memory, solve a problem, or think through a complex concept, it becomes one more thing the brain needs to process. The 1998 researchers proposed that gaze aversion can reduce this cognitive burden. By averting their gaze, people may reduce the social aspect and give more attention to thinking.

Researchers describe this as a way of managing cognitive load . Because working memory has limited capacity, reducing unnecessary stimuli can make thinking easier.

Not making eye contact does not imply deception

The idea that avoiding eye contact always means that a person is being deceptive is a common myth; however, scientific studies have questioned this claim before.

In a article, Bella M. DePaulo and colleagues found that many common nonverbal cues to deception, including eye contact, are not reliable indicators of lying. Researchers analyzed 1,338 estimates across 158 deception cues and found that many cues had little or no correlation with lying. The paper suggests that some cues can be weak indicators, depending on the person, situation, and type of lie. The authors concluded that no single nonverbal sign is reliable enough on its own to diagnose deception.

Moreover, asking people to maintain direct eye contact while answering a tough question can sometimes be counterproductive. Someone trying to recall a distant memory or answer an unexpected interview question may look away while thinking.

Children and adults both exhibit this behavior

Research has indicated gaze aversion among various age groups. Children, for instance, often avert their gaze when asked memory or logical reasoning questions.

A study published in Developmental Psychology, available through, found that older children were more likely to look away while answering difficult questions compared with easier ones. Researchers suggested that gaze aversion may help children manage their cognitive resources by reducing the amount of visual information they process during mentally demanding tasks. The study, led by researchers from the University of Stirling, examined how children responded to verbal reasoning and arithmetic questions of varying difficulty

In the study, children were tested on verbal reasoning and memory questions that varied in difficulty, and the authors reported a clear age-related pattern: older children showed more gaze aversion on the harder items, while younger children were less consistent. The paper argues that looking away may be a way of limiting distracting input so children can devote more attention to the task at hand.

This behavior is not limited to children; adults also avert their gaze when remembering, solving problems, or organizing their thoughts before speaking.

Next time anyone turns away, give them some time

It is not unusual for people to make quick judgments about body language in regular conversations. A person who turns away during an intense discussion may seem indifferent or uneasy, even if they are mentally engaged. Allowing people a few seconds to think, rather than insisting on eye contact, can improve the quality of a conversation. That can be especially useful in job interviews, classrooms, therapy sessions, and other conversations that require difficult answers.

A tiny change in our perspective on human behavior

Eye contact still matters in social interaction because it helps people connect and build trust and confidence. But when one breaks eye contact briefly, it doesn’t always imply a lack of interest or deception. Sometimes, the person looking away is not dodging you. They may simply be thinking of the answer.

So next time someone pauses, looks upward, or shifts their eyes while answering a tough question, remember that their brain may be working hard.