Which way do you tilt your head when you kiss your other half? If you typically tilt your head to the right, good news – you still have romantic feelings for them.

Whereas, if you tilt your head to the left, your feelings might be more, um, platonic.

Researchers from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, analysed over 500 pictures of people kissing, and compared kisses between couples with platonic kisses, such as between family members, to see if there was any difference in approach.


And they found that, in most cases (80 per cent) lovers rotated or tilted their heads slightly to the right when embracing, whereas the same people went the opposite way when kissing their friends or family.



‘Our research demonstrated the novel finding that turning bias was modulated by the context of the kiss, as a leftward directionality was observed for the parental context and a reversed rightward bias for romantic kissing,’ the report concluded.

Here are Kate and Wills demonstrating the right head tilt on the balcony:

(Picture: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

And here is Kate demonstrating the left head tilt with her father-in-law.

Here’s Brad going in for the kill in Cannes.

And Angelina with bro James Haven in 2000.

Britney and Madge.

We’ll let you judge this one for yourselves.

But why do we lean right when we fancy someone?

‘Your brain is split into two halves: the left and right hemisphere,’ explains lead researcher Jennifer Sedgewick. ‘Activity on one side makes us focus on (or move toward) the opposite side.’

As most of our emotional circuitry is more dominant in the right hemisphere, Jennifer argues, the left side of our faces express more emotion than the right.

We therefore tilt our faces to the right when we kiss to show our partners the more emotive side of our face, she suggests.

Sorry Maggie, we think he’s leaning left (Picture: BBC/YouTube)

Still with us? Jennifer also believes the reason parents and their offspring tend to tilt their faces left when they kiss might be down to the way we are cradled as babies.

‘Parents would predominantly cradle using their left arm,’ the report argues. ‘A left turn kissing bias could persist beyond the stage of cradling due to the repetitive movement in that direction since it may feel most natural.’

So, should you be worried if you tilt left when kissing your other half?

Well, don’t panic just yet. The report concedes there are other influences at play. For example, your partner might be left-handed, in which case they’re more likely to lean left.

Or, they might just be really nervous. In which case, just be glad they hit the target at all.

MORE: Experts reveal what different sleeping positions mean for your relationship

MORE: Here’s what your favourite sleeping position says about you

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