Are you listening to me? Scientists find blinking eyes mean the mind is wandering



Ever get the feeling that the person you’re talking to isn’t being entirely attentive? Now you can tell for certain – because scientists have found a way to prove whether someone is listening to you.

All it takes is a look into their eyes. When a person blinks, it is a sign that their mind is wandering, a study shows.

The researchers think that blinking sets up tiny physical barriers that help to shut off the outside world.

Is your partner really listening? How often they blink is a telling sign. (Posed by models)

They were inspired by studies showing that when attention falters, parts of the brain that process external influences are less active.

‘We thought, OK, if that’s the case, maybe we’d see that the body would start to do things to prevent the brain from receiving external information,’ said neuroscientist Dr Daniel Smilek, from the University of Waterloo-in Ontario, Canada.

‘The simplest thing that might happen is you might close your eyes more.’

To test the theory, 15 volunteers were asked to read from a computer screen while a sensor tracked their eye movements, recording any blinks. At random intervals, the computer beeped and the subjects reported whether they had been paying attention to what they were reading or whether their minds were wandering.

The volunteers were found to blink more when they weren’t paying attention.

‘What we suggest is that when you start to mind-wander, you basically close your eyelid so there’s less information coming into the brain,’ said Dr Smilek.

The research is reported in the journal Psychological Science. Previous studies have shown that people blink more when lying.





