你也許有過(guò)這樣一種體會(huì)：看電影遇到精彩場(chǎng)景時(shí)會(huì)睜大眼睛盯著屏幕,，擔(dān)心一眨眼就錯(cuò)過(guò)關(guān)鍵劇情,。而日本科學(xué)家的最新研究成果告訴我們,，這種擔(dān)心沒有必要，因?yàn)檠劬?huì)自主選擇眨眼時(shí)機(jī)，以免錯(cuò)過(guò)重要的視覺信息。
眨眼頻率
通常情況下,，每個(gè)人眨眼的頻率和方式不同，平均每分鐘眨眼10至15次,，每次持續(xù)100至150毫秒,。在眨眼的瞬息之間,，眼睛接收不到視覺信息和光線。
英國(guó)《每日郵報(bào)》29日援引日本東京大學(xué)中野玉見博士的話說(shuō)：“我們似乎下意識(shí)地尋找眨眼的最佳時(shí)機(jī),，將眨眼時(shí)遺漏重要信息的可能性降到最低,。”
他說(shuō)，伴隨每次眨眼,，大腦有450毫秒時(shí)間接收不到視覺信息,，也就是說(shuō)，每分鐘大約有6秒時(shí)間沒有視覺信息輸入,。這意味著，如果看一場(chǎng)時(shí)長(zhǎng)150分鐘的電影,，那么期間有15分鐘我們閉著眼睛,。
科學(xué)家們想知道：人類如何應(yīng)對(duì)眨眼所帶來(lái)的信息缺失？
眨眼實(shí)驗(yàn)
中野挑選9名健康男性和9名健康女性進(jìn)行實(shí)驗(yàn),，這些志愿者年齡在22歲至31歲之間,。
研究人員安排志愿者觀看無(wú)聲喜劇《憨豆先生》的一個(gè)片段和另一段毫無(wú)情節(jié)的水族館影像，還讓他們聽《哈利·波特與魔法石》的有聲讀物,。
通過(guò)觀察志愿者在三種測(cè)試環(huán)境下的眨眼情況,，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)：在看無(wú)聲喜劇時(shí)，志愿者幾乎在同樣的時(shí)間點(diǎn)——劇情不精彩以及場(chǎng)景末尾時(shí)眨眼,；但在觀看水族館影像和聆聽《哈利·波特與魔法石》的有聲讀物時(shí),，實(shí)驗(yàn)者并沒有同步眨眼。
“只有在個(gè)體需要從連續(xù)的視覺事件里提煉信息來(lái)理解故事情節(jié)時(shí),，同步眨眼才會(huì)發(fā)生,，”中野說(shuō)。
擇時(shí)眨眼
研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn),，志愿者們只在無(wú)聲電影的“非關(guān)鍵”時(shí)刻才同步眨眼,，當(dāng)時(shí)屏幕上可能正是一段場(chǎng)景的末尾，或者鏡頭里沒有主角,，只有無(wú)關(guān)緊要的建筑,、道路。
此外,，研究人員還發(fā)現(xiàn)志愿者看一段視頻故事時(shí)的眨眼間隔,。在這段時(shí)長(zhǎng)3分30秒的視頻中，志愿者們眨眼60次,。
中野的這一研究成果刊登在英國(guó)《皇家學(xué)會(huì)生物學(xué)分會(huì)學(xué)報(bào)》上,。
倫敦大學(xué)學(xué)院學(xué)者杰蘭特·里斯認(rèn)為這是一項(xiàng)有趣的研究，這種個(gè)體間的同步眨眼“暗示有一種可以誘發(fā)眨眼的共性存在于每個(gè)人身上”,。他還指出,，曾有研究顯示,，在看電影時(shí)，個(gè)體間的大腦活動(dòng)可以變得同步,。
“（同步）眨眼也許正是人們大腦同步活動(dòng)時(shí)的一個(gè)外在表現(xiàn),，這可能有助于回答‘人們看電影時(shí)在思考些什么？’”里斯說(shuō),。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Proc. R. Soc. B July 29, 2009, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2009.0828
Synchronization of spontaneous eyeblinks while viewing video stories
Tamami Nakano1,2,3,4,*, Yoshiharu Yamamoto1, Keiichi Kitajo1,5, Toshimitsu Takahashi3,4 and Shigeru Kitazawa3,4
1Graduate School of Education, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
2Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan
3Department of Physiology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
4CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Saitama, Japan
5Laboratory for Dynamics of Emergent Intelligence, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan
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.
