People fall in love at fourth sight: study

Lovers need to meet at least four times before cupid strikes their hearts, according to a new study which suggests that love at first sight may be a myth.

Researchers from Hamilton College in the US gave pictures of people's faces to a group of young men and women.

They wired their brains to monitors as the participants ranked the attractiveness of people in the photos.

Participants were then shown the images for a second time. They rated the faces which they found attractive more highly.

The attraction was even higher on the third occasion and strongest of all on the fourth, researchers said.

Monitors showed extra activity around the excitement and pleasure centres of the brain, 'dailystar.co.uk' reported.

"Much to their surprise, people often find themselves drawn to individuals after multiple encounters, even when there was no initial attraction," said Ravi Thiruchselvam, psychologist at Hamilton College.

"Cupid's arrow is often slow to strike. It may be attributable to the gradual change in attractiveness from repetition," he said.