December 24, 2012
Why Do We Blink So Frequently?
New research indicates that the brain enters a momentary state of wakeful rest when we blink, perhaps allowing us to focus better afterward. Image via Flickr user Scinerm
We all blink. A lot. The average person blinks some 15-20 times per minute—so frequently that our eyes are closed for roughly 10% of our waking hours overall.
Although some of this blinking has a clear purpose—mostly to lubricate the eyeballs, and occasionally protect them from dust or other debris—scientists say that we blink far more often than necessary for these functions alone. Thus, blinking is physiological riddle. Why do we do it so darn often? In a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a group of scientists from Japan offers up a surprising new answer—that briefly closing our eyes might actually help us to gather our thoughts and focus attention on the world around us.
The researchers came to the hypothesis after noting an interesting fact revealed by previous research on blinking: that the exact moments when we blink aren’t actually random. Although seemingly spontaneous, studies have revealed that people tend to blink at predictable moments. For someone reading, blinking often occurs after each sentence is finished, while for a person listening to a speech, it frequently comes when the speaker pauses between statements. A group of people all watching the same video tend to blink around the same time, too, when action briefly lags.
As a result, the researchers guessed that we might subconsciously use blinks as a sort of mental resting point, to briefly shut off visual stimuli and allow us to focus our attention. To test the idea, they put 10 different volunteers in an fMRI machine and had them watch the TV show “Mr. Bean” (they had used the same show in their previous work on blinking, showing that it came at implicit break points in the video). They then monitored which areas of the brain showed increased or decreased activity when the study participants blinked.
Their analysis showed that when the Bean-watchers blinked, mental activity briefly spiked in areas related to the default network, areas of the brain that operate when the mind is in a state of wakeful rest, rather than focusing on the outside world. Momentary activation of this alternate network, they theorize, could serve as a mental break, allowing for increased attention capacity when the eyes are opened again.
To test whether this mental break was simply a result of the participants’ visual inputs being blocked, rather than a subconscious effort to clear their minds, the researchers also manually inserted “blackouts” into the video at random intervals that lasted roughly as long as a blink. In the fMRI data, though, the brain areas related to the default network weren’t similarly activated. Blinking is something more than temporarily not seeing anything.
It’s far from conclusive, but the research demonstrates that we do enter some sort of altered mental state when we blink—we’re not just doing it to lubricate our eyes. A blink could provide a momentary island of introspective calm in the ocean of visual stimuli that defines our lives.
(Newsletter image courtesy of Flickr user Chris McClanahan.)
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very interesting..:)
This duplicates early EEG research I read about recently where subjects were placed in a well-lit room and monitored as the lights were turned off. Complete darkness didn’t activate alpha EEG in the brain the same way simply closing the eyes did, even though more light was reaching the eye through the closed lids with lights on than when the eyes were open but lights were off.
Nothing new under the sun…
Walter Murch thought heavily about this in his book about film editing, “In the Blink of an Eye”. He felt that blinking can even be a cue to know where to cut and not to cut in a film scene. “There are places in a conversation where it seems we almost physically cannot blink or turn our heads (since we are still receiving important information), and there are other places where we must blink or turn away in order to make better sense of what we have received. And I would suggest that there are similar points in every scene where the cut cannot or must occur, and for the same reasons.”
I assumed that everybody understood that. Are people really that unobservant of themselves?
Okay, maybe I actually have an edge here, being as I’m a high-functioning autistic. Here’s the relevant clue: those of us on the spectrum are notably prone to slapping ourselves to the back of the head, sharply. The greater the need for concentration, the more often we’re likely to do so.
I’ve long known that this elicits an involuntary blink response which works much like a reset button. When working as desired, it removes whatever mess of tangled sensations awaits effective processing into perceptions. It’s rather like using a wrecker to remove the detritus of an automobile accident to the shoulder of the road.
This new research is not surprising to me, though it is interesting.
I consider the brain(thinking/directing) and body(motor response) as two separate entities that need to remain in sync to function properly. Eye blinking is a way to stay in sync.
Meditation reveals, it happens when thought pattern changes. When you learn to calm down your mind, blinking becomes less frequent until it happens only when you decide to blink.
Alert Mr. Obvious.
My internal monologue:
“Although seemingly spontaneous, studies have revealed that people tend to blink at predictable moments. *blink* For someone reading, blinking often occurs after each sentence is finished, GET OUT OF MY HEAD *blinkblink*”
Literally blink at comma’s, peroid and paragraph breaks while reading this article. Not sure if the article subconsciously suggested it to me or i just started to notice it due to the said article.
Indeed very interesting.
Awakened individuals are often reported to blink infrequently. Presumably their cognition differs: specifically they do everything consciously, including blinking.
Watch the drivers in the World Rally Cars. I’d like to see their blinks counted.
On the other side of the coin, I’ve noticed that some people, usually women who want to feel in command of a certain situation, lengthen the time they keep their eyes shut during blinks while answering questions.
I wonder about how much less a person with a dementia condition may blink. Would decreased brain functioning slow the blinking?
Curious. I seem t blink at the end of each line, when they’re short enough to read without blinking.
Very interesting information.I have learned a lot from it.Thanks for this nice post.
I don’t think this result is fully vetted. Blinking is also a natural tendency to keep the cornea moist, necessary for keeping it clear and clean. I wear soft contact lenses, & try not blinking for a short time to feel what those lenses are like after only a few moments of staring. I wore eyeglasses for ~ 30 years before contacts, and blinking was necessary then also, especially in dry desert conditions.
Before this, somewhere i read that, we blink to give our eyes rest and protection. This information is totally new to me.
I’m really surprised when I read “that briefly closing our eyes might actually help us to gather our thoughts and focus attention on the world around us.” Because, previously I knew that We blink rapidly for healthy eyes and keep our eyes from stress.
But this research creates a new thought on about this topic! :o
Thanks a lot for such a wonderful post, the stuff posted were really interesting and useful. The quality of the content was good and clear.
Awesome, thank you!
I wear soft contact lenses, & try not blinking for a short time to feel what those lenses are like after only a few moments of staring. I wore eyeglasses for ~ 30 years before contacts, and blinking was necessary then also, especially in dry desert conditions.