The eyelids are like gates, and you may be "opening the gap" at the moment of pulling the brakes. January 17, 2019 Source: Science and Technology Daily Author: Ke Jiang Yun Hong Hengfei can overflow There are many things in life that require people to keep their attention. For example, pay attention to listening to classes during driving, pay attention to road conditions when driving, and pay attention to the movements of opponents in sports competition. However, studies have shown that it is difficult for the brain to maintain a high concentration of mind for a long time. Therefore, people will use the best attention state to process the most important information, such as focusing on key content during class. So how does the brain regulate the attention in real time? The research team of the “Hundred Talents Program†of the School of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Ding Wei, found that in the process of information processing, the brain can quickly switch between attention and non-attention in one second. This rapid switching of attention states depends on the motor cortex of the brain, and the activation of the motor cortex can cause the movement of the eyelid muscles, so that the blink of an eye can be observed to monitor when the brain is more focused and at what time. This research has recently been published in the internationally renowned journal Nature Communications. People will blink at the rhythm of the content they listen to There is a cloud in the "Three Kingdoms": "Yu Shao is interested in music. Although the three princes have their own mistakes, Yu will know it, and knowing it must be taken. Therefore, people say: 'The song is wrong, Zhou Lang Gu.'" If the song is wrong, it is heard. Why do you have to turn it around after listening to it? This is because perception and movement are often associated with each other. "There is a mistake in the song" is perception, and "Zhou Lang Gu" is a movement. By extension, listening to other people's speeches will also trigger synchronous movements? The research of Ding Wei's research group gives a positive answer. The study found that humans blinked with the rhythm of what they heard. If the frequency of human blinking far exceeds the frequency required to wet the eyeball, it may reflect some characteristic of brain information processing. The research team's research on blinking and attention can be summarized by “a different approachâ€. In brain science research, researchers often ignore blinking and even treat blinking as an interference. For example, in the EEG study, since the electrical signal generated by blinking constitutes a strong interference to the EEG signal, in the process of EEG analysis, researchers often first remove the blink interference. This research is focused on this often overlooked blink. In the experiment, the volunteers will hear a series of four-character phrases, such as sheep grazing, pony crossing the river, snow fluttering, etc. Their task is to detect whether the first word or the third word in the short sentence appears. For specific goals, the eye and eye movements of volunteers when they listened to sentences were recorded simultaneously during the experiment. The research team found that the experimental volunteers would have fewer blinks when they focused on listening; they would blink more when they did not pay attention. When listening to the same paragraph, the position of the experimental volunteers will be different because of the different content of the attention. In the experiment, the state of attention and inattention can be quickly switched within one sentence or even one second, and the blink rate is also rapidly changed in a short time accordingly. This is like when students feel that the teacher wants to focus, they will concentrate and reduce their blinks. After the important content is over, the blink of an eye will increase, soaking the slightly dry eye. "Barometer" of brain information processing status "This kind of eyelid activity related to attention does not depend on the light conditions. The human body listens to the sound in the dark environment or closed eyes, and the muscle movement of the eyelids is still regulated by the state of attention." The research team showed that the eyelid activity and Advanced cognitive processing is closely related. Blinking or even closing your eyes doesn't directly affect our hearing. So why did the brain evolve this blinking behavior that is synchronised with hearing? One possible explanation is that the state of the eye reflects the state of information processing in the brain. Ding Wei's group proposed a new hypothesis: For humans, vision is the main source of information. Therefore, when the blink of an eye, the brain prioritizes the processing of external information; on the contrary, when the eye is closed, the brain prioritizes the internal affairs (thinking about life, daydreaming, rest, etc.). Therefore, the eyelids are like gates: when the brain wants to process external information, it opens the gate and collects the information; when there is no important information outside, it will pull the gate and handle the momentary housekeeping. According to this hypothesis, the eyelids are an external reflection of the state of information processing in the brain. After switching to the internal state, the processing of the senses such as sight and hearing is temporarily weakened. Therefore, the eyelids are not only the "curtains" that protect the eyes, but also the "barometers" that moisturize the eyeballs. In response to the future application of this experiment, Ding Wei said that this can provide new ideas for monitoring the state of mind attention through video: for example, by analyzing the blinking activities of students during class, you can understand the attention of the whole class. Objective evaluations that can be used for teaching quality can also be fed back to teachers to improve the quality of teaching. Plant Extract,Pure Plant Extract,Organic Plant Extract,Natural Plant Extracts Allied Extracts Solutions , https://www.nballiedbiosolutions.com