University libraries

Every month, the Joseph-Fourier University Library hosts a workshop to promote scientific culture: la science infuse.
As part of Brain Week, we're delighted to welcome Christian Graff, Lecturer and Researcher at the Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition, who explains the link between blinking and mental activity.

Spontaneous eye blinking is so abundant that its "peripheral" role in protecting and moistening the cornea is currently considered minor compared to the role it plays in the functioning of the central nervous system. In fact, the blink rate varies greatly with mental activity, as observed in particular during conversation. This mental activity is fed by sensory inputs and triggers observable motor outputs; it is also correlated with that of different parts of the brain, which may come to life disconnected from these interfaces. On the basis of experimental psychological manipulations, we'll see how eye blinks are witnesses to mental activity, how they can contribute to interpersonal communication, and how they help modulate the share of exchanges between the inner and outer worlds.

Watch the video