Blink Activity in a Discrimination Task as a Function of Stimulus Modality and Schedule of Presentation

Abstract

Eyeblink performance parameters were investigated in subjects engaged in a series of duration discrimination tasks differing in modality (visual vs. auditory) and presentation schedule (fixed vs. variable). Visual tasks were associated with slower blink rates and shorter blink durations than auditory tasks. Sensitivity measures suggested that this difference might be due, in part, to the greater difficulty of the visual tasks. Blink latency declined within and across tasks and was longer for target stimuli which were followed by responses. Since the target stimuli were the short duration stimuli, the latter effect could be a compound of two opposing effects. The first is related to the response, which tends to delay the blink on target trials, while the second, related to decision processes, would tend to increase latencies on nontarget trials. Schedule of stimulus presentation did not affect dependent measures as predicted. RT was unaffected by either of the experimental variables.

Experimental evaluation of eye-blink parameters as a drowsiness measure

“…The increased proportion of long closure duration blinks observed by others (e.g., Stern et al 1996;Goldstein et al 1982) was confirmed in this study. The proportion was significantly higher (almost 20%), and in the drowsy condition represented on average more than one-quarter of all spontaneous blinks.…”

“…Published data concerning alertnessassociated influences on the spontaneous blink frequency Barbato et al (2000) found that spontaneous eye-blink rate significantly increased in the evening (20:30 hours). Numerous studies demonstrate an increase of blink frequency as a function of the time-on-task, as observed during vigilance tasks (Carpenter 1948), reading (Lukiesh 1947;Mourant et al 1981), driving a car (Haider and Rohmert 1976;Stern et al 1976) and in aviation (Morris and Miller 1996;Wilson and Lambert 1999), but there are also contrasting results (Brezinova and Kendell 1977;Goldstein et al 1982). Other investigations showed a rise in blink frequency after a relative decrease, with the reduction occurring in the final phase of extreme sleepiness briefly before falling asleep (Caffier et al 1999;U.S.…”

Hypnotic Susceptibility and the Endogenous Eyeblink: A Brief Communication

“…Electrooculographic recordings of eyeblink frequency4 were obtained for each subject by a procedure developed by Stem and his associates (see Goldstein, Walrath, Stem, & Strock, 1985). Subjects were seated in a comfortable chair, were read standardized instructions: and were di-*Additional aspects of eyeblink behavior were also abstracted: blink amplitude, closing duration, and 50% window duration, as well as accuracy of response to attentional task (hits or misses) and response latency.…”

Eye complaints in the office environment: precorneal tear film integrity influenced by eye blinking efficiency

“…Reduction at visual task, but an increase during conversation Substantial increase at mental loading and while memorisation Dopamine activity correlates directly with BF 16/0 (students) 148 Measure of biopotential at canthi, 32…”