Why does not your vision get dark when you blink?

There is a saying that says, "Blink and you will miss it." But in general, we do not miss anything when we blink; in fact, we do not even notice when we do it. Indeed, even if adults flash about 15 times per minute, on average, our vision seems transparent and uninterrupted.

But how does it work, exactly?

Experts have suggested that the brain fill these gaps, maintaining a "snapshot" that connects the brief moments during blinking when the visual capture is suspended. But these explanations limited this activity to certain areas of the brain; namely, the sensory areas found in the back. But the researchers recently asked if other brain regions were also involved, and they found one in the front of the brain. [‘Eye’ Can’t Look: 9 Eyeball Injuries That Will Make You Squirm]

In a new study, published online today (Sept. 24) in the journal Current Biology, scientists have discovered that the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in decision-making and short-term memory, links what we see between our vision. In this way, the prefrontal cortex plays a central role in perceptual memory, a type of long-term memory that stores sensory data.

In previous research, the study's authors examined brain activity using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and found several brain regions – including the prefrontal cortex – during active the formation of perceptive memory. Caspar Schwiedrzik Primate Center and the University Medical Center Göttingen in Germany, told Live Science in an email.

When they compared the results on several topics, the activity in the prefrontal cortex was the most consistent – and the most promising as a factor of perceptual memory, Schwiedrzik said.

In the new study, the researchers attempted to replicate their MRI findings and did it "with a more direct electrophysiological technique," he said. Specifically, they measured brain activity in six people with epilepsy who had electrodes implanted in their brains to treat the disease. This allowed scientists to directly record the brain activity of subjects, according to the study.

What is the path?

When a person blinks, everything she looks at is held back by the brain and then visually connected to what she sees when the eyelid is up again. For the study, the scientists designed an experiment that would demonstrate a similar visual connection between two images. At the same time, the electrodes showed them what areas of the brain were firing as this visual interpretation unfolded.

In the experiment, the researchers showed the study participants diagrams whose orientation could be interpreted in different ways, such as vertical or horizontal. Participants examined the patterns in pairs – one after the other – and chose the orientation of the two images.

During this activity, scientists recorded brain activity in the prefrontal cortex. They noted that perceptual memory was activated if the orientation selected for the second image matched the orientation of the first image; it suggested that the sight of the first motive influenced the way the subjects viewed the second. The activity in the prefrontal cortex during these experiments showed them that this brain region is involved when perceptual memory is in progress, reported the authors of the study.

In addition, they also found that a subject who was missing some of his prefrontal cortex following surgery was unable to store information to form perceptual memories in the experiments, suggesting that the prefrontal cortex is necessary for this type of memory works. at all.

These results demonstrate that the prefrontal cortex "actively calibrates" new data with prior visual data, "and thus allows us to perceive the world with more stability, even when we briefly close our eyes to blink".

Original article on Live Science.