Does new blink science explain eye-closure fractionation?
Written by Joy Livingwell, 3 January 2013
Comments: 1
You blink far more often than necessary to keep your eyes clean and moist. Scientists have discovered that the timing of your blinks relates to what you’re doing and experiencing.
Now new research suggests that each blink allows your brain to rest momentarily.
A blink briefly activates your default network, areas of your brain that are active when your mind is in a state of wakeful rest, rather than focused on the outside world.
Hypnotist Ron Nodvik wonders whether this momentary switch to the default network might explain the power of eye-closure fractionation. Could it be that each time a person intentionally blinks or briefly closes their eyes, the default network takes over, briefly interrupting the conscious mind’s control?
If so, hypnotists have once again discovered ways to utilize what brains do naturally to get hypnotic effects.
I maintain that many hypnotic techniques involve the art of “teasing out” particular trance states normally running in the background to take the mental foreground. — Ron Nodvik
Read more about recent blink research at SmithsonianMag.com:
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2012/12/why-do-we-blink-so-frequently/
Posted: under hypnosis, speculation.
Tags: cognitive psychology, eye closure, fractionation, neuroscience, science news
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Comment from steve the hypnotist in Philadelphia
Time 30 January 2013 at 6:59 pm
Very interesting theory about how fractionation works. I thought it could be because the act of repeatedly “going in” and “going out” tends to cause the “going in” to go deeper (whatever deeper means). But this blinking mechanism makes sense. I guess the general principle is dis-orientation so that we can re-orient them thru the process.
PS. I tried adding your RSS feed to Google Reader but get an error, can only see posts up to 2011 in the reader… so hadn’t see your posts in a while. Good content as always!