Humans time blinks so they don't miss information

This is pretty well known already: in Kendo, students are taught to monitor our opponent and attack when he blinks. Likewise, you need to be aware of your own blink and be prepared to defend yourself when you do.

Re: Humans time blinks so they don't miss information

#5

Post by bgutierrez » Wed, Jul 29, 2009, 2:37 PM UTC

Dr Tamami Nakano should monitor people playing Guitar Hero, and watch how infrequently they blink their eyes.

Re: Humans time blinks so they don't miss information

#6

Post by tomerico » Wed, Jul 29, 2009, 2:51 PM UTC

I wonder why evolution hasn't made it possible to blink with each eye separately, so that no information is lost.

Re: Humans time blinks so they don't miss information

#7

Post by unalone » Wed, Jul 29, 2009, 2:56 PM UTC

woodsier wrote: post #2

It always amazes me how _we_ control our body for the most part, and yet so much of it remains a mystery.

I know, right? Every time I read something new about the human body, I'm struck with this thought like, "Wow, I'm really awesome and I never knew it."

Re: Humans time blinks so they don't miss information

#8

Post by nudded » Wed, Jul 29, 2009, 3:00 PM UTC

tomerico wrote: post #6

I wonder why evolution hasn't made it possible to blink with each eye separately, so that no information is lost.

and what if something interesting happens in the line of sight only visible to the eye you just blinked with?

if you blink with both eyes, you are sure you missed something, if you only blink with one at the time, you will never know if you missed something.

(and besides only blinking with one eye at the time would look kinda silly :)

Re: Humans time blinks so they don't miss information

#9

Post by wglb » Wed, Jul 29, 2009, 3:03 PM UTC

tomerico wrote: post #6

I wonder why evolution hasn't made it possible to blink with each eye separately, so that no information is lost.

Now that is really an interesting question.

I wonder if blinking with one eye would be disruptive to the sterovision that is going on. An interesting test would be to train oneself to blink one eye at a time.

Re: Humans time blinks so they don't miss information

#10

Post by mahmud » Wed, Jul 29, 2009, 3:27 PM UTC

wglb wrote: post #9

tomerico wrote: post #6

I wonder why evolution hasn't made it possible to blink with each eye separately, so that no information is lost.

Now that is really an interesting question. I wonder if blinking with one eye would be disruptive to the sterovision that is going on. An interesting test would be to train oneself to blink one eye at a time.

I think you answered yourself: stereovision support. The mental context-switch needed to go from stereo to mono to stereo again is probably more expensive than just going from stereo to nothing and back to stereo. I just tried it and closing one eye at a time made me sorta dizy.

(disclaimer: not a trained eyetician ;-)