Research shows that areas of the brain actually shut down with each blink of the eye.

In the 1980s, scientists discovered that visual sensitivity begins decreasing immediately before a blink, but the brain mechanisms underlying this process have remained unclear until now.

In the UCL study, researchers devised a clever way to monitor the brain's activity, under conditions in which the amount of light received by the eye was constant, regardless of blinking.

This was achieved by placing a light-emitting optical fiber in the mouth of volunteers who were wearing light-blocking goggles. The light was bright enough to reach the retina by passing through the roof of the mouth.

The Blink Is the Link

The researchers then performed magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, on the volunteers, to see how the brain would react when light was uninterrupted during blinking.

It was discovered that brain activity in areas that are active when people become conscious of visual events or objects in the outside world were suppressed during blinking -- even though the light falling onto the retina remained constant throughout the blink.

The UCL scientists conclude that the brain's ability to shut down during blinking is a neural mechanism that protects us from the constant distraction and discontinuity that otherwise would result from the frequent mini-blackouts.

Lost in the Blink of an Eye

The average person blinks about 15 times per minute. So, even though the mini-blackouts are instantaneous, they add up to about nine days per year -- or up to one or two years of an average lifespan.

The years are literally lost in the blink of an eye.