Posted
7/25/2005 05:13:00 PM
by Douglas
Ah, the mysteries of life. Why do you
blink? Now ya know:
In the new study, scientists put fiber-optic lights in the mouths of people. The lights were powerful enough to penetrate the roofs of their mouths and strike their retinas, where light is recorded. They wore goggles to block outside light.
When the test subjects blinked, the amount of light hitting their retinas didn't change. Activity in their brains was monitored by functional magnetic resonance imaging.
During blinking, brain activity was suppressed in areas that respond to visual input, the scientists report.
If only I could train my brain to suppress
everything that was equally as pointless. Like when the guy in front of me at the deli actually stop and consider, for at least 10 seconds, what kind of cheese he wants on his sandwich. It's cheese, you moron.