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Asked by 224heaa29 to Priscilla, Mel, Jay Oty, Dorcas, Chapa on 26 Sep 2014.
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Dorcas Kamuya answered on 26 Sep 2014:
Hi 224heaa29,
A good question that has reminded me of my biology class many years ago! Eyes help us see the word around us, identify shapes, colours. To do so the outer membrane of the eye needs to be protected from particles in the air, things that may scratch it or damage it. Blinking helps to protect the eye by blocking off these particles. Blinking also releases tears which help to keep the outer membrane of the eye, the conjunctiva, moist, thus lubricating it and protecting it from being scratched whenever we blink. Sometimes we can blink rapidly, for example, when a strong light is directed to the eyes suddenly; this helps the eye to adjust the intensity of the light that gets through the iris to the pupil and eventually to the retina, where the neurons (nerves that send message to brain to decode the shape and colour of the object we may be seeing) is located. Sometimes we can also stare at something for long without blinking, probably because we are trying to make sense of it. And of of curse the longest blink is when we close eyes to sleep 🙂
Dorcas.
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Comments
243heaa22 commented on :
WOOOW NYC ANSA FOR THE QUESTION………………..
MAN FROM JAPAN commented on :
Blinking may be done on purpose eg to lubricate the eyeballs and occasionally to protect the eye from dust or other debris. On the other hand, blinking at times may be a spontaneous response which can be predicted. For instance, Japanese researchers argue that when one reads a sentence, he blinks at instances where there are punctuation marks, when one is listening to a speech, most oftenly, one blinks when the speaker pauses and a group of people watching an action packed video will tend to blink at the same time, ie when the action slightly lags