Spontaneous but not voluntary eye blinks during spatial working memory are associated with successful performance

Abstract

Spontaneous eye blink rate (SBR) has been associated with central dopamine (DA) levels, raising the intriguing possibility that SBR is related to cognitive functions dependent on DA, such as spatial working memory (WM). We tested this hypothesis in two behavioral experiments, examining the relationship between SBR, WM load and individual differences in spatial WM performance in 126 young adults. In Experiment 1, we examined the temporal profile of SBR during a spatial delayed recognition task requiring maintenance of 1, 2, 4, 6 or 7 dot locations. We observed a suppression in SBR during dot- and recognition probe-presentation, and a significant increase in SBR afterwards. High performers showed significantly lower SBR than low performers during the first 500 ms of the delay period. In Experiment 2, we used a similar spatial WM task as Experiment 1 to test whether an instructed voluntary blink during the early delay would directly dampen WM performance. While the temporal dynamics of SBR across task events were comparable to Experiment 1, WM performance was not significantly different between the voluntary blink and no blink conditions. Together, these results suggest that spontaneous but not voluntary eye blinking is closely linked to spatial WM, and that lower SBR during WM encoding and early phase of maintenance is associated with better WM task performance.