Diurnal variation of spontaneous eye blink rate in the elderly and its relationships with sleepiness and arousal

Revisiting the association between hypnotisability and blink rate

“…The concomitant increase in sleepiness and decrease in blinking observed in our participants contrast with the positive correlation observed between these two variables in the general population (Barbato et al 2007;De Padova et al 2009) and attributed to possible dopamine-related arousal mechanisms triggered by the effort to contrast sleepiness (Barbato et al 2007). Decreases in BR have been found during hypnosis with respect to pre-hypnosis conditions (Lichtenberg et al 2008a).…”

“…In addition, the difference in BR between highs and mediums/lows is abolished by controlling for the variability in mind wandering, which is a function of the dopaminergic tone (Agostino et al 2008;De Padova et al 2009;Tharp and Pickering 2011;Kohl et al 2013). Nonetheless, higher mind wandering is associated with greater cognitive flexibility rather than stability (Tharp and Pickering 2011), in contrast to high hypnotisability (Jamieson and Sheehan 2004;Egner et al 2005); in addition, similar scores of mind wandering were observed in highs, mediums and lows, and the two traits opposite traits of mind wandering and absorption were not negatively correlated between each other as expected on the basis of their association with cognitive flexibility and stability, respectively (Colzato et al 2010); thus, the interaction of hypnotisability and mind wandering seems quite complex and it appears that the dopaminergic tone alone may not account for the observed hypnotisability-related differences in BR.…”

“…With one exception (Kimber and Thompson 2000), BR has been found lower in patients with lower dopamine brain content (Parkinson disease) and higher in patients with higher dopaminergic tone (Hungtington's disease, schizophrenia); moreover, dopamine agonists increase BR, whereas dopamine antagonists decrease BR (Lichtenberg et al 2008a;Agostino et al 2008;De Padova et al 2009;Tharp and Pickering 2011;Kohl et al 2013). Thus, the lower BR observed in highs contrasts with the dopaminergic theory of hypnotisability.…”

“…In contrast, mind wandering indicates the proneness to escape from absorption in tasks (Kam et al 2012;Kam and Todd 2014). It is associated with lower level of alertness and vigilance (Barbato et al 2007;De Padova et al 2009;Braboszcz and Delorme 2011) and greater flexibility on attentional set-shifting tasks (Tharp and Pickering 2011), which is sustained by lower dopaminergic tone (Colzato et al 2010); thus, on one hand, higher mind wandering should be associated with higher BR, whereas on the other hand, it should negatively correlate with hypnotisability. In contrast, higher MW scores have been found in a subtype of highs, i.e., those exhibiting higher dissociative tendencies (Marcusson-Clavertz et al 2012).…”

Assessment of short‐term variability in human spontaneous blink rate during video observation with or without head / chin support

“…Some investigators have advocated that the initial period of recording should not be considered as a subject adapts to having their blink activity recorded. This could be a three minute ‘adaptation’ period or perhaps even a five minute ‘accommodation’ period, followed by just two minutes for calculation of blink rates. Similarly, the SBR could progressively increase (or decrease) from initial values especially under extended periods of observation and with subjects required to undertake prescriptive visual tasks or are being exposed to visual glare …”