Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio in a scene from Romeo + Juliet

Washington, July 27 (PTI): There may be some truth in Shakespeare’s words that love is blind, for a study has found that people in love pay less visual attention to attractive people of the opposite sex.

“We found that when people just thought about being in love with their current partner, their visual attention got repelled, rather than grabbed, by an attractive member of the opposite sex,” said Jon Maner, the lead researcher at the Florida State University in Tallahassee.

The finding may help explain why those already in love do not seek out other, perhaps better, mates. Those in love find potential alternative partners less attractive than single people do, reports the New Scientist .

As part of the fascinating research, Maner and colleagues asked 57 students to write about occasions they felt extreme love towards their partner. Another 56 students wrote about feeling extreme happiness.

The students were then shown 500 microsecond flashes of 60 photos, comprising equal numbers of highly attractive men, highly attractive women, average-looking men, and average-looking women.        

As the faces disappeared, a square or a circle appeared elsewhere on the screen.

The students were instructed to identify the object as quickly as possible — a measure of a person’s visual attention at a subconscious level.

The research found that those primed with thoughts of love took significantly less time to identify shapes after viewing an attractive face of the opposite sex, compared with students who had written essays on happiness.