New research has found that the number of times we blink decreases when we’re doing a task that requires more concentration, like paying attention to someone who’s talking.
A new published in the journal Trends in Hearing found that people blink less when they hear someone speakespecially when the listening task becomes more demanding due to background noise.
Blinking is one of the body’s most automatic behaviors, keeping the eyes silently lubricated and protected. Most people blink dozens of times a minute without realizing it. But research suggests that blinking may also reflect the brain’s level of effort, says .
“We wanted to know whether blinking was affected by environmental factors and how this related to executive function,” said Pénélope Coupal, a psychology researcher involved in the study. “For example, there is a strategic moment for a person to blink, so that Don’t miss anything that’s being said?”
To investigate, the research team carried out two experiments with 49 participants.
Volunteers heard sentences read aloud while researchers monitored how often they blinked. The experiments varied two main factors: lighting conditions and the level of background noise, which made speech easier or more difficult to understand.
The results were consistent across participants. Blink frequency decreased significantly during speechcompared to the previous and subsequent moments.
When the background noise increased and understanding became more difficult, the blink frequency decreased even more.
In contrast, changes in lighting did not have a significant effect on blinking, suggesting that the reduction was driven by mental effort rather than visual fatigue.
Although individuals naturally blink at different base rates, the tendency to suppress blinking during speech has been demonstrated. common to the entire group. This is in line with previous research showing that people blink less when their brains are processing complex information.
“We don’t blink randomly,” Coupal explained. “In fact, we systematically blink less when they are relevant information presented.”
Researchers have not directly examined why eye blinking and attention are linked, but they propose several explanations.
One possibility is that the blink of an eye briefly interrupt the flow of sensory informationboth visual and auditory. Suppressing blinking can help your brain avoid missing important details.
“Our study suggests that blinking is associated with the loss of information, both visual and auditory,” said Mickael Deroche, a psychology researcher and acoustic engineer at Concordia. “Presumably this is why we suppress blinking when important information is coming in.”
Previous studies have also suggested that blinking act as brief mental breaks during reading or emotional processing. Reduced blinking may therefore signal greater attention. The team believes that similar mechanisms may operate in auditory processing.
