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Mind

When two people fancy each other their heart rates jump in harmony

By Clare Wilson

22 September 2019

man and woman smiling

New clues about why we sometimes feel that spark of attraction

martin-dm/Getty

If you want someone to like you, forget about body language – the real measure of whether two people hit it off is how much they synchronise internal bodily functions, like heart rate and sweating.

People on a mock blind date liked each other more if they had simultaneous surges in their heart rate and skin conductivity. “You hear about people who are well suited to each other in theory but there is no spark – we wanted to know if you can quantify the spark,” Mariska Kret of…

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