Researchers in Britain have carried out a study and found that a direct smiling gaze from a possible mate is a look of love that makes that person appear up to eight times more attractive, The Guardian reported in London on Wednesday.

According to lead researcher Ben Jones of the Face Research Laboratory at the University of Aberdeen, "It does seem to be a sort of narcissistic thing. People are attracted to people who are attracted to them.

"It's really a very basic effect that we are all, at some level at least, aware of -- which is that if you smile at people and you maintain eye contact, it makes you more attractive."

In fact, in their study, the team of researchers put together four different sets of digital images – women looking happy, women looking disgusted, men looking happy and men looking disgusted.

In each case, the scientists made up pairs of images that were identical except that in one the person was looking directly at the camera and in the other their gaze was averted. Volunteers then rated the relative attractiveness of the images in each pair.

The team found that a direct stare is attractive only if the person giving it looks as if they like you. This preference was even higher if the face in the picture was of the opposite sex.

"What we found at the most basic level is that people like faces with direct gaze more than they like the same faces with averted gaze. In other words, people find it more attractive when they are being looked at," Dr Jones said.