It is estimated that, under normal circumstances, we tend to blink approximately every five seconds. This means that during the hours we stay awake each day, we blink around 11,520 times a day. Which, per year, would mean more than 4.2 million blinks. Very tired, don’t you think?
The truth is that this simple act of opening and closing our eyes, which in most cases we carry out practically without being aware of it, lasts barely a tenth of a second . And it is of vital importance when spreading different lubricating liquids around the eyeball, and eliminating the dust particles that may have accumulated in the previous seconds.
Every time we blink, our eyelids provide the surface of the eye with a wonderful set of oils and mucous secretions that help prevent the eyeballs from drying out .
But its functionality does not end there. In fact, we also blink in order to keep our eyes safe from some stimuli that could end up being potentially harmful, not only foreign bodies (such as dust), but even the brightest lights. But why do we do it?
Scientists have discovered that the human brain is able to momentarily ‘rest’ for the few tenths of a second that the blink lasts. Specifically, the same act of blinking suppresses activity in different areas of the brain responsible for detecting changes that occur outside, so that we can experience the world as continuous.
In this way, the function of the blinking of the eyes goes far beyond preventing the eyeballs from drying out, protecting the sight from some too bright lights, or eliminating possible dangerous or harmful debris, elements and particles.
The study, carried out by researchers from the University of Osaka, in Japan, was published in the journal Proceedings , and it included 20 healthy young subjects, whose brain was subjected to a scan while observing bits of the best fragments from the British-born comedy Mr. Bean .
When the subjects blinked, the scientists detected a momentary disruption within the brain’s visual cortex and somatosensory cortex, both of which are involved in the processing of different visual stimuli, as well as in areas that govern attention.
On the other hand, this study did not examine the relationship between blinking and the stranger, as other investigations have investigated, which found that, when a lie is told, the liar tends to blink less, possibly because the act of deceiving someone it requires uninterrupted and absorbed attention to achieve the expected result.
References:
Tamami Nakano, Makoto Kato, Yusuke Morito, Seishi Itoi, Shigeru Kitazawa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dec 2012, 201214804; DOI: 10.1073 / pnas.1214804110
