Less blinking may mean more active listening
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READING:
Blinking is something we do automatically, without thinking. We blink 15–20 times a minute. There are several reasons why we blink. One is to stop our eyes from becoming dry. This helps our vision. Another reason is to protect our eyes from dust or sudden insect attacks. Scientists in Canada think they have found another function of blinking. The researchers are from Concordia University in Montreal. They found that we blink less when we are listening to someone speak. This happens more when there is background noise. Lead researcher Penelope Coupal said blinking less means our brain has a little more energy. This allows us to focus on what another person is saying.
The research team conducted two experiments on 49 participants. All of the test participants listened to sentences being read aloud. In one experiment, there was no background noise. In the other test, there was background noise, which made it harder for the people to hear the sentences. The scientists said that people in the test with background noise blinked a lot less. When the background noise increased, blink rates dropped even further. Study co-author Dr Mickael Deroche said we automatically blink less "when important information is coming". Ms Coupal agreed. She said: "We don't just blink randomly. In fact, we blink systematically less when important information is presented."
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