Synchronised blinking may reflect a certain cognitive state that professional racers have when controlling a fast-moving car
By Soumya Sagar
19 May 2023
The Dutch Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Zandvoort circuit in September 2022
ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images
Different racing drivers blink at around the same points in a circuit, which could reflect their synchronised mental states as they concentrate on controlling the car. Blinking lubricates our eyes, but how it links to other aspects of our health are unclear. Studying this further could help us better understand conditions where blinking rates change, such as Parkinson’s disease.
We generally blink 12 times per minute, with each blink lasting around one-third of a second. Our blinking rate has been linked to the attention we give a certain task, with some people blinking less when they concentrate on a screen.
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“Many people think that blinking is done solely to moisten the eyes, but only a few blinks per minute suffice for this purpose.” says Ryota Nishizono at NTT Communication Science Laboratories in Atsugi, Japan.
To study how driving could influence blinking, Nishizono and his colleagues looked at three professional male drivers working for a Formula racing team. The drivers carried out 304 practice laps of three circuits in Japan: Fuji, Suzuka and Sugo. A binocular eye tracker mounted on their helmets recorded their blinking, counted by machine learning.
An analysis of the data revealed that, although the blinking frequency of the drivers differed, they generally blinked at around the same points on each circuit, with their rate of blinking decreasing as they drove faster.