Abstract
Spontaneous blinking occurs 15–20 times per minute. Although blinking has often been associated with its physiological role of corneal lubrication, there is now increasing behavioral evidence suggesting that blinks are also modulated by cognitive processes such as attention and information processing. Recent low-density electroencephalography (EEG) studies have reported so-called blink-related oscillations (BROs) associated with spontaneous blinking at rest. Delta-band (0.5–4 Hz) BROs are thought to originate from the precuneus region involved in environmental monitoring and awareness, with potential clinical utility in evaluation of disorders of consciousness. However, the neural mechanisms of BROs have not been elucidated. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we characterized delta-band BROs in 36 healthy individuals while controlling for background brain activity. Results showed that, compared to pre-blink baseline, delta-band BROs resulted in increased global field power (p < 0.001) and time-frequency spectral power (p < 0.05) at the sensor level, peaking at ~250 ms post-blink maximum. Source localization showed that spontaneous blinks activated the bilateral precuneus (p < 0.05 FWE), and source activity within the precuneus was also consistent with sensor-space results. Crucially, these effects were only observed in the blink condition and were absent in the control condition, demonstrating that results were due to spontaneous blinks rather than as part of the inherent brain activity. The current study represents the first MEG examination of BROs. Our findings suggest that spontaneous blinks activate the precuneus regions consistent with environmental monitoring and awareness, and provide important neuroimaging support for the cognitive role of spontaneous blinks.
Highlights
Spontaneous eye blinks occur ∼15–20 times per minute (Tsubota et al, 1996)
While blinks have often been associated with their physiological role of corneal lubrication, there is increasing behavioral evidence suggesting that blinks are modulated by cognitive processes such as attention and information processing (Veltman and Gaillard, 1998; Viggiano and Mecacci, 2000; Oh et al, 2012)
As the first MEG study of blink-related oscillations (BROs), we investigated the neurocognitive mechanisms of resting state delta-band (0.5– 4 Hz) BROs associated with spontaneous blinking in healthy individuals
Summary
Spontaneous eye blinks occur ∼15–20 times per minute (Tsubota et al, 1996). While blinks have often been associated with their physiological role of corneal lubrication, there is increasing behavioral evidence suggesting that blinks are modulated by cognitive processes such as attention and information processing (Veltman and Gaillard, 1998; Viggiano and Mecacci, 2000; Oh et al, 2012). The current understanding of blink-related brain activity often centers on the blink motor command and the phenomenon of blink suppression, in which visual sensitivity is momentarily reduced over the duration of the blink (Volkmann, 1986; Bristow et al, 2005b; Berman et al, 2012). This phenomenon is believed to help mitigate the loss of sensory input due to blinking, thereby accounting for the behavioral observation that the frequent visual interruptions due to blinking are rarely noticed in the subjective experience (Volkmann, 1986). Other studies using magnetocephalography (MEG) (Bardouille et al, 2006) and electroencephalography (EEG) (Heuser-Link et al, 1992) have reported blink-related activity in the frontally located eye regions—primarily attributed to muscle contractions and eye movement—as well as the occipital cortex
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