How to kiss—ingest mints, pucker lips, tilt head?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Dianne Barrett, Julian Greenwood, and John McCullagh, from Stranmillis University College in Belfast, spied on kissing couples. On campus, and around Belfast, in pubs, bus stations, at the airport!
Of the 125 smoochers observed, a whopping 81 percent slanted their heads right on approach.
The researchers then invited some 240 PASSIONATE participants into the lab for some mouth to mouth. . . with a mannequin. Two thirds life size, with chiseled cheekbones, firm but full lips, and a symmetrical, asexual face.
78 percent of the kissers still tipped right! It had nothing to do with handedness. Right handlers, southpaws—all equally tipped starboard.
Suggesting anyone who kisses left may be, er, a real dummy.
Reference: Barrett, D., Greenwood, J. G., & McCullagh, J. F. (2006). Kissing laterality and handedness. Laterality, 11(6), 573–579. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576500600886614