GUYS, when a female bats her eyelids at you, take a breath and hold yourself back: She might NOT be interested.

A study by an Austrian anthropologist has found that women could not help leading men on, reported New Scientist magazine.

Professor Karl Grammer found that women unintentionally used courtship methods - like smiling, flipping their hair and fidgeting with their clothes -- to take control when they meet strangers.

Women also avoided sending clear rejection signals such as crossing their arms - even to men they found unattractive - until they had assessed them.

Grammer - the director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Urban Ethology in Vienna - had based his findings from studying 45 pairs of male and female strangers in their teens to early 20s.

After each couple was led into a room, the researcher attached told them he had to answer a telephone call and left.

Through a two-way mirror, the couple's actions were then video-taped for 10 minutes, before they were asked to rate how attractive they found the other person and whether they would date them.

On scrutinising the video footage for courtship signals, Grammer and his team discovered that the female strangers often tried to attract their male counterparts' attention by chatting happily and giving sexual signals.

And even when they found the men unappealing, the females did not instantly express any form of clear rejection. Only after a few minutes did their actions reflect their feelings.

This initial subconscious flirting gave females time to assess the men.

The only time the females responded negatively was during - guess when - the incidences where the men talked too much.

Nonetheless, it was largely the females who controlled the meetings, and their physical action had a direct effect on the males. Simple gestures like nodding their heads kept the males talking.

''You can predict male behaviour from female behaviour,'' said Grammer. ''But not the other way round.''

So guys, the next time you see a babe giving you a lingering look or a charming smile, stop yourself and think twice - she might not be interested in you after all.