Radiolab: "Blink"

Podcast: Radiolab (WNYC Studios)
Date: October 6, 2009
Hosts: Jad Abumrad, Robert Krulwich
Special Guests: Walter Murch (film editor), Tamami Nakano & Shigeru Chita Zawa (neuroscientists)

Overview

This episode dives deep into a simple, yet surprisingly complex question: Why do we blink? Jad and Robert explore not just the practical, biological reasons, but also the curious psychological and narrative roles blinking plays in our perception of the world, diving into the worlds of film editing and neuroscience to uncover fascinating insights. Along the way, they examine how blinking could serve as a form of mental punctuation—a way we process and discretize our experiences.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Mundane Miracle of Blinking (01:42–02:42)

• Opening Question:
  Jad and Robert debate the purpose of blinking, with the common assumption (from “ninth grade”) being that it’s just to wetten the eyeball.

• Surprising Fact:
  “On really humid days, or in the sauna, you don’t blink less... they’ve actually done studies.” – Jad Abumrad (02:44–02:59)
  The blink rate remains constant, suggesting some other reason behind blinking.

• Robert’s Observation:
  “Your mind erases the darkness of the blink. So you can blink away, but the world will seem seamless and blinkless to you... you will not feel the blink inside.” (Robert Krulwich, 02:16–02:39)

2. Blinkology & Film Editing: Walter Murch’s Discovery (03:19–07:12)

• Introduction to Walter Murch:
  Legendary editor (Apocalypse Now, The Godfather).
  He describes his editing process as “run[ning] the film at full speed and try[ing] to feel the rhythm in an almost musical way.” (Walter Murch, 05:42–05:50)

• Creeping Collaboration:
  While editing The Conversation, Murch notices a pattern: “every time he made a cut, he would see that on the screen, Gene Hackman would have blinked.” (Jad Abumrad paraphrasing, 06:42–06:48)

• Emerging Theory:
  Murch begins to suspect that blinking might be a kind of hidden mental punctuation—a synchrony between editing choices and actor’s blinking rhythms:
  “Am I responding to him blinking? That didn’t seem like that it was possible. And yet the alignment was consistent.” (Walter Murch, 06:58–07:12)

3. Scientific Inquiry: Blinking as Mental Punctuation (07:36–12:28)

• Japanese Neuroscientists Enter:
  Tamami Nakano & Shigeru Chita Zawa conduct experiments with electrodes to record blinks while subjects watch movies (Mr. Bean).

• Major Findings:

  • Individual Consistency:
    “Within each person, they blink at the same time point in the movie.” (Tamami Nakano, 09:39–09:44)
  • Social Synchronization:
    “A large percentage of their subjects actually fell in sync... with each unconscious blink that you make, 70 people make that blink right with you.” (Jad Abumrad, 10:15–10:23 paraphrasing)
    • “According to our analysis, one third of blinks contributed to synchronization.” (Interviewer, 10:15–10:23)

• Blinks as Rest Stops:
  Blinks occur “at the conclusion of action by the actor,” or during narrative “rest stops.”
  Example: When the screen shows an “empty street” or after Mr. Bean finishes an action, everyone blinks. (Tamami Nakano, 11:18–11:49)

• Hypothesis:
  Blinking as a result of “chunking”—segmenting life or information into manageable units.
  “Blink might be chunk. Make a chunking of the flow of information for effective processing.” (Tamami Nakano, 12:45–12:58)

4. Life, Cinema, and Blinking: Connections & Musings (12:58–14:47)

• Murch’s Analogy:
  “It’s like that moment when we save a disk. There’s enough information in our buffer, so to speak... And that’s at that moment that we blink.” (Walter Murch, 12:58–13:10)

• Culture & Evolution:
  Robert and Jad muse about whether modern media has changed our “chunking”—or blinking—patterns over time.

  • “I wonder if the blink rates have changed over generations.” (Jad Abumrad, 13:54–13:57)
  • “I'm sure they have.” (Robert Krulwich, 13:57)

• Time Lost to Blinking:
  “So in a two hour movie you’re missing total 15 minutes.” (Jad Abumrad, 14:41)
  “So in an 80-year life, you’re missing two years… two years of darkness, which you are thanks to your lovely brain, you are totally unaware of missing.” (Robert Krulwich, 14:41–14:50)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Consciousness:
  “Your mind erases the darkness of the blink. So you can blink away, but the world will seem seamless and blinkless to you.”
  (Robert Krulwich, 02:16–02:39)

• Film Editing as Mind Reading:
  “Am I responding to him blinking? That didn’t seem like that it was possible. And yet the alignment was consistent.”
  (Walter Murch, 06:58–07:12)

• Synced Blinking:
  “With each unconscious blink that you make, 70 people make that blink right with you. Like all these little butterfly wings fluttering at the same time. Wow.”
  (Jad Abumrad, 10:23)

• Chunking Insight:
  “Blink might be chunk. Make a chunking of the flow of information for effective processing.”
  (Tamami Nakano, 12:45–12:58)

• Data Storage Analogy:
  “It’s like that moment when we save a disk... that’s at that moment that we blink.”
  (Walter Murch, 12:58–13:10)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:42] – Introduction to the science and psychology of blinking
• [03:33] – Walter Murch’s story about editing and blink discovery
• [07:36] – Introduction to Japanese blink researchers
• [08:24] – Experiment set-up: Electrodes and Mr. Bean
• [09:39] – Discovery: Blinks are synchronized within individuals
• [10:15] – Discovery: Social synchronization
• [11:18] – Blinks coincide with natural “rest stops” in narrative/action
• [12:45] – Hypothesis: Blinks as mental chunking
• [14:41] – Quantifying time lost to blinking
• [14:47] – Lifelong blinking adds up to two years of lost darkness

Conclusion

The episode elegantly weaves together science, film, and lived experience to reveal that blinking is far more than an automatic biological function. It may function as a punctuation mark—synchronizing thought, memory, and even social experience, creating shared pauses in both storytelling and life. And, in a poetic final twist, all those blinks add up: entire years spent in darkness, invisibly sliced out of our conscious lives.

For listeners and non-listeners alike, "Blink" is a compelling reminder that even our smallest actions can reflect profound truths about how we process the world—and about what it means to see, and to miss, the passing moments of our lives.