Elucidation of functional role and neural mechanisms of spontaneous eyeblinks

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25700014
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Cognitive science
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: NAKANO Tamami 大阪大学, 生命機能研究科, 准教授 (90589201)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KITAZAWA Shigeru 大阪大学, 生命機能研究科, 教授 (00251231)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 瞬目 / アセチルコリン / VBM / TMS / ｆMRI

Outline of Final Research Achievements

People spontaneously blink 20 times per min, much more than necessary for ocular lubrication. However, functional role of spontaneous eyeblinks remains unknown. The present study aimed to explore the functional role and the neural mechanisms of the spontaneous eyeblinks. We found that the default mode network, the hippocampus and the orbitofrontal cortex transiently increased the neural activity in associated with eyeblinks, while the dorsal and ventral attention networks decreased their neural activity. Moreover, the genetic variation of nicotinic cholinergic receptor affected the spontaneous eyeblink rate. We also revealed that the right angular gyrus is involved in generation of the spontaneous eyeblinks.

Free Research Field

認知神経科学