Humans develope a distinct psycological connection between one another from a very early age. Majority of our interactions growing up are made face to face making eye contact. Of which, eye contact can inspire trust, fear, doubt, ect. A psychologist Christian Jarrett writes a blog about the connections we make with just eye contact, or lack there of. bellow is a small quote introducing his topic- "Our sensitivity to eye contact begins incredibly early. Infants of just two days of age prefer looking at faces that gaze back at them. Similarly, recordings of the brain activity of four-month-olds show that they process gazing faces more deeply than faces that are looking away..." For more information https://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/11/28/the-psychology-of-eye-contact-digested/

With this hypothesis, could it also be possible that humans consciously-unconsciously have a selected preference for this trait of facial expressions in all other animals? Further more, could this be a small contribution to our selection in house hold cats/felines? Or even so towards inanimate object, such as a car of which has a front end that resembles a sort of face?

The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) is a measure of the reliability of measurements or ratings. Resource: https://www.medcalc.org/manual/intraclasscorrelation.php