Synchronization of spontaneous eyeblinks while viewing video stories

Blinks are generally suppressed during a task that requires visual attention and tend to occur immediately before or after the task when the timing of its onset and offset are explicitly given. During the viewing of video stories, blinks are expected to occur at explicit breaks such as scene changes. However, given that the scene length is unpredictable, there should also be appropriate timing for blinking within a scene to prevent temporal loss of critical visual information. Here, we show that spontaneous blinks were highly synchronized between and within subjects when they viewed the same short video stories, but were not explicitly tied to the scene breaks. Synchronized blinks occurred during scenes that required less attention such as at the conclusion of an action, during the absence of the main character, during a long shot and during repeated presentations of a similar scene. In contrast, blink synchronization was not observed when subjects viewed a background video or when they listened to a story read aloud. The results suggest that humans share a mechanism for controlling the timing of blinks that searches for an implicit timing that is appropriate to minimize the chance of losing critical information while viewing a stream of visual events

Eyeblink rate watching classical Hollywood and post-classical MTV editing styles, in media and non-media professionals

While movie edition creates a discontinuity in audio-visual works for narrative and economy-ofstorytelling reasons, eyeblink creates a discontinuity in visual perception for protective and cognitive reasons. We were interested in analyzing eyeblink rate linked to cinematographic edition styles. We created three video stimuli with different editing styles and analyzed spontaneous blink rate in participants (N=40). We were also interested in looking for different perceptive patterns in blink rate related to media professionalization. For that, of our participants, half (n=20) were media professionals, and the other half were not. According to our results, MTV editing style inhibits eyeblinks more than Hollywood style and one-shot style. More interestingly, we obtained differences in visual perception related to media professionalization: we found that media professionals inhibit eyeblink rate substantially compared with non-media professionals, in any style of audio-visual edition

Blinking when talking depends on the receiver: the case of nursing mothers

During nursing, a mother faces an infant who does not speak and hardly blinks. We established the eye-blinking rate in this special interactive context for comparison with the high rate repeatedly reported in between adult conversation. The 22 mothers we observed during bottle-feeding blinked much less—especially when talking to their infant—than when talking with another adult. Nursing may have put mothers in a state of concentration that inhibits blinking. So, we propose that the frequent blinks usually displayed during conversations may depend on intentions or expectations about the receiver, which maybe modulated by the affective state

Time dilates after spontaneous blinking

Accumulating evidence from pharmacology, neuroimaging, and genetics indicates that striatal dopamine influences time perception 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Despite these converging results, it is not known whether endogenous variations in dopamine underlie transient fluctuations in our perception of time. Here, we exploited the finding that striatal dopamine release is associated with an increase in spontaneous eye blink rate 6, 7 and 8 to examine the relationship between intra-individual fluctuations in dopamine and interval timing. In two studies, participants overestimated visual subsecond and suprasecond and auditory subsecond intervals if they had blinked on the previous trial. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that transient fluctuations in striatal dopamine contribute to intra-individual variability in time perception

Seuratun kappaleen poikkeuttaminen silmänräpäysten aikana: käyttäytymis- ja neuromagneettisia havaintoja

The visual world is perceived as continuous despite frequent interruptions of sensory data due to eyeblinks and rapid eye movements. To create the perception of constancy, the brain makes use of fill-in mechanisms. This study presents an experiment in which the location of an object during smooth pursuit tracking is altered during eyeblinks. The experiment investigates the effects of blink suppression and fill-in mechanisms to cloud the discrimination of these changes. We employed a motion-tracking task, which promotes the accurate evaluation of the object’s trajectory and thus can counteract the fill-in mechanisms. Six subjects took part in the experiment, during which they were asked to report any perceived anomalies in the trajectory. Eye movements were monitored with a video-based tracking and brain responses with simultaneous MEG recordings. Discrimination success was found to depend on the direction of the displacement, and was significantly modulated by prior knowledge of the triggered effect. Eye-movement data were congruent with previous findings and revealed a smooth transition from blink recovery to object locating. MEG recordings were analysed for condition-dependent evoked and induced responses; however, intersubject variability was too large for drawing clear conclusions regarding the brain basis of the fill-in mechanisms.Visuaalinen maailma koetaan jatkuvana, vaikka silmänräpäykset ja nopeat silmänliikkeet aiheuttavat keskeytyksiä sensoriseen tiedonkeruuseen. Luodakseen käsityksen pysyvyydestä, aivot käyttävät täyttömekanismeja. Tämä tutkimus esittelee kokeen, jossa kappaleen seurantaa hitailla seurantaliikkeillä häiritään muuttamalla sen sijaintia silmänräpäysten aikana. Tämä koe tutkii, kuinka silmänräpäysten aiheuttama suppressio ja täyttömekanismit sumentavat kykyä erotella näitä muutoksia. Käytimme liikeseurantatehtävää, joka vastaavasti edistää kappaleen liikeradan tarkkaa arviointia. Kuusi koehenkilöä osallistui kokeeseen, jonka aikana heitä pyydettiin ilmoittamaan kaikki havaitut poikkeamat kappaleen liikeradassa. Silmänliikkeitä tallennettiin videopohjaisella seurannalla, ja aivovasteita yhtäaikaisella MEG:llä. Erottelykyvyn todettiin riippuvan poikkeutuksen suunnasta, sekä merkittävästi a priori tiedosta poikkeutusten esiintymistavasta. Silmänliikedata oli yhtenevää aiempien tutkimusten kanssa, ja paljasti sujuvan siirtymisen silmänräpäyksistä palautumisesta kappaleen paikallistamiseen. MEG-tallenteet analysoitiin ehdollisten heräte- ja indusoitujen vasteiden löytämiseksi, mutta yksilölliset vaste-erot koehenkilöiden välillä olivat liian suuria selkeiden johtopäätösten tekemiseksi täyttömekanismien aivoperustasta

THE EFFECTS OF EYEBLINKS ON AUDITORY PROCESSING

Master'sMASTER OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

Shared and Distinct Neural Bases of Large- and Small-Scale Spatial Ability: A Coordinate-Based Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis

Background: Spatial ability is vital for human survival and development. However, the relationship between large-scale and small-scale spatial ability remains poorly understood. To address this issue from a novel perspective, we performed an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies to determine the shared and distinct neural bases of these two forms of spatial ability.Methods: We searched Web of Science, PubMed, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar for studies regarding “spatial ability” published within the last 20 years (January 1988 through June 2018). A final total of 103 studies (Table 1) involving 2,085 participants (male = 1,116) and 2,586 foci were incorporated into the meta-analysis.Results: Large-scale spatial ability was associated with activation in the limbic lobe, posterior lobe, occipital lobe, parietal lobe, right anterior lobe, frontal lobe, and right sub-lobar area. Small-scale spatial ability was associated with activation in the parietal lobe, occipital lobe, frontal lobe, right posterior lobe, and left sub-lobar area. Furthermore, conjunction analysis revealed overlapping regions in the sub-gyrus, right superior frontal gyrus, right superior parietal lobule, right middle occipital gyrus, right superior occipital gyrus, left inferior occipital gyrus, and precuneus. The contrast analysis demonstrated that the parahippocampal gyrus, left lingual gyrus, culmen, right middle temporal gyrus, left declive, left superior occipital gyrus, and right lentiform nucleus were more strongly activated during large-scale spatial tasks. In contrast, the precuneus, right inferior frontal gyrus, right precentral gyrus, left inferior parietal lobule, left supramarginal gyrus, left superior parietal lobule, right inferior occipital gyrus, and left middle frontal gyrus were more strongly activated during small-scale spatial tasks. Our results further indicated that there is no absolute difference in the cognitive strategies associated with the two forms of spatial ability (egocentric/allocentric).Conclusion: The results of the present study verify and expand upon the theoretical model of spatial ability proposed by Hegarty et al. Our analysis revealed a shared neural basis between large- and small-scale spatial abilities, as well as specific yet independent neural bases underlying each. Based on these findings, we proposed a more comprehensive version of the behavioral model

Magnetoenkefalografialla mitatut hermostolliset vasteet normaalilla ja hitaalla nopeudella esitettyihin silmänräpäyksiin

Objectives. The main function of eye blinking is to moisten and protect the cornea. Therefore it may be surprising that blink rate can convey information about the person's emotional and cognitive state, and that people with abnormal blink rates can be perceived as unfriendly or nervous. Moreover, listeners' blinks have been shown to synchronize with a videotaped speaker's blinks. For these reasons, blinks are suggested to have social functions, as well. The objective of this thesis was to probe the neural correlates of blink viewing with magnetoencephalography (MEG). The research questions were: 1) Do viewed eye blinks elicit observable MEG responses? If they do, which brain regions are involved? 2) How does the response change when the blink video is slowed down? 3) Are the self-produced blinks synchronized with the viewed blinks? Methods. The participants (n = 9) were presented with a video of a neutral female face showing no other movement than a single eye blink. The video was played back with normal speed (blink duration 351 ms) and in slow motion (950 ms); a pair of normal and slow videos was repeated 102 times. Between the blink videos, five other facial expressions were shown, and the participants task was to memorize those expressions. A 306-channel neuromagnetometer recorded the brain responses with a sampling rate of 600 Hz. After averaging and filtering the responses, the mean peak latencies, return-to-baseline durations and amplitudes were compared on the channels showing the strongest peaks. The participants blinks were measured with electro-oculogram (EOG), and the proportion of blinks occurring during the viewed blink was compared with the proportions of blinks at other time points. Results and discussion. Both fast and slow viewed blinks elicited prominent MEG responses. The mean peak latencies of the responses to the slow blinks were longer than those to the normal blink (445 ms vs. 317 ms). The responses to the slow blink also returned to the baseline later (921 ms vs. 537 ms). The maximum responses were equal in amplitude between the normal and slow conditions, contrary to our expectations based on earlier results showing that when the viewed stimuli move faster, the responses are stronger. In accordance with earlier EEG results, the cortical sources, modeled as current dipoles, were located mainly in the occipito-temporal cortical regions in the right hemisphere. The subjects also tended to blink more after the blink in the video (peak around 700 ms after the onset of the viewed blink). In conclusion, eye blinks are likely to have social relevance, and this was the first study to demonstrate with MEG how the human brain reacts to viewed blinks.Tavoitteet. Silmiä räpytellään pääasiassa sen vuoksi, että sarveiskalvo pysyisi kosteana. Siksi saattaa tuntua yllättävältä, että räpäysten tiheys voi paljastaa jotakin henkilön kognitiivisesta tai emotionaalisesta tilasta ja että epätavallinen räpytystiheys voi luoda epäystävällisen tai hermostuneen vaikutelman. Kuulijoiden on lisäksi osoitettu räpyttelevän silmiään samaan tahtiin videolla näkyvän puhujan kanssa. Näiden tulosten perusteella on ehdotettu, että silmänräpäyksillä olisi merkitystä sosiaalisen vuorovaikutuksen kannalta. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli tarkastella nähtyihin silmänräpäyksiin syntyviä aivovasteita magnetoenkefalografiaa (MEG) käyttäen. Tutkimuskysymyksinä olivat: 1) Tuleeko nähtyyn räpäykseen erotettavissa oleva MEG-vaste? Ja jos tulee, mitkä alueet aktivoituvat? 2) Miten vaste muuttuu, kun räpäysvideota hidastetaan? 3) Ajoittuvatko katsojan silmänräpäykset systemaattisesti videon räpäyksiin nähden? Menetelmät. Koehenkilöille (n=9) esitettiin videolla naisen kasvot, joilla ei näkynyt muuta liikettä kuin yksittäinen silmänräpäys. Video näytettiin sekä tavallisella nopeudella (jolloin räpäyksen kesto oli 351 ms) että hidastettuna (950 ms). Video toistettiin kummallakin nopeudella 102 kertaa. Näiden toistojen välissä näytettiin myös viisi videota muista kasvonilmeistä, ja koehenkilöiden tehtävänä oli painaa mieleen nuo ilmeet. Aivovasteet mitattiin 306-kanavaisella neuromagnetometrillä 600 Hz:n näytteenottotaajuudella. Signaalia suodatettiin ja keskiarvoistettiin, ja gradiometripareille laskettiin vektorisummat, jotta vasteiden huippujen viiveitä ja voimakkuuksia sekä vasteiden kestoja voitiin vertailla (kultakin koehenkilöltä valittiin vertailuun se kanava, jossa vaste oli voimakkain). Koehenkilöiden silmänräpäykset rekisteröitiin elektro-okulografialla (EOG), ja räpäysten määrää nähdyn räpäyksen aikana verrattiin räpäysten määriin muina ajanhetkinä. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Sekä nopea että hidas silmänräpäys tuottivat selkeitä MEG-vasteita. Vasteiden huippujen viiveet olivat pidempiä hitaille räpäyksille (keskiarvo 445 ms) kuin nopeille (317 ms). Vasteet hitaaseen räpäykseen myös pysyivät pidempään kohinarajan yläpuolella (hitaat 921 ms, nopeat 537 ms). Vasteiden huippujen voimakkuuksissa ei ollut eroa nopean ja hitaan videon välillä, mikä on vastoin aiempia tuloksia, jotka ovat näyttäneet vasteiden voimakkuuden kasvavan ärsykkeiden (nähtyjen pisteiden) liikkuessa nopeammin. Lähteet paikannettiin dipolimallinnuksen avulla takaraivo- ja päälaenlohkon välimaastoon aivokuorelle, mikä on sopusoinnussa aiempien EEG-tulosten kanssa. Lisäksi koehenkilöillä oli taipumus räpytellä enemmän juuri räpäyksen näkemisen jälkeen. Yhteenvetona todettakoon, että silmänräpäyksillä on todennäköisesti merkitystä sosiaalisessa kanssakäymisessä, ja tämä oli ensimmäinen tutkimus, jossa näytettiin MEG:llä, miten aivot reagoivat silmänräpäyksen näkemiseen

The Consequences of Everyday Inattention

Beginning with a series of several self-report questionnaire studies I examine the potential for everyday attention lapses to create an inability to form connections to the external world, particularly through the experience of chronic boredom, and to subsequently lead to depression. In the first study I examine this process through the intermediate role of memory failures in the onset of boredom and depression, while in the second I examine the role of self-efficacy and in the third I add psychological stress as a further intermediate step between attention lapses and depression. For each study significant associations are found between self-report measures of attention lapses and attention-related cognitive errors, as presumed causes, and boredom proneness and depression as presumed outcomes. Structural equation modeling is then used to show these associations are well explained by an Attention-to-Affect model in which the attention lapses and attention-related errors predict the onset of boredom and depression, in part through their effects on memory failures (Chapter 1), perceived self-efficacy (Chapter 2), and psychological stress (Chapter 3). That these Attention-to-Affect models provide much better fit for the data runs contrary to the typical conception of attention and memory problems as consequences of emotional distress. Following from these models I examine in more specific terms the disconnect experienced as a result of attention lapses, through a laboratory study employing the Sustained Attention to Response Task. This study (Chapter 4) revealed a significant influence of attentional challenges on blinking behaviour, suggesting that whenever our attentional capacity is tested we have a tendency to momentarily direct our thoughts inwardly, perhaps to re-evaluate our attentional performance, and that the timeframe of this redirection is expanded following lapses of attention, and the commission of attention-related errors