While blinking every few seconds serves to keep your eyes lubricated, scientists have spotted another benefit: blinking gives your brain a mini-power nap.
Scientists from Japan's Osaka University examined 20 healthy young adults in a brain scanner as they watched segments of the British comedy "Mr. Bean." When subjects blinked, the researchers noticed a power-down within the brain's visual cortex and somateosensory cortex, as well as in areas that manage attention.
In a separate experiment, the team inserted about nine 165-millisecond segments of blank screentime per minute into the "Mr. Bean" video. Interestingly, although the video gave them a mini-break similar to blinking, subjects' brains didn't respond to it in the same way as a blink — they remained attentive without powering down parts of the brain.
The study was published last week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.
A 2008 study finds that blinking is also a giveaway for lying: fib-tellers blink less frequently during the lie and then speed up to around eight times faster than usual afterwards. The findings were published in the Journal of Non-verbal Behavior.