Blink... and you'll miss it

Everyone blinks.

In actuality, we can tell a lot from the blinking rate of a person. I can tell if a person is calm, or nervous from the frequency of a person's blinks. Over the years, I have noticed that when someone is calm and relaxed, the number of blinks is far less compared to a nervous or anxious person. [Believe it or not, I noticed this from looking at candidates whom I have interviewed over the years].

When I read this month's National Geographic magazine, I am pleased to note that my observation is, more or less, valid. According to the magazine's article entitled "On the blink" written by Jennifer S. Holland. Here's an interesting point for us to know:

Calm slows blinking; anxiety can cause eyeblink storms. Think of a nervous politician or a bad liar, who usually blinks faster after a fib.

Holland, J.S. (2009, December). In National Geographic; page 26.

The article also lists down the average number of blinks per minute for different kinds of people:

1. Nervous adult: 50 blinks per minute
2. Calm adult: 15 blinks per minute
3. Staring at television: 7.5 blinks per minute
4. Newborn: 2 blinks per minute
   

So, there you go. It's not foolproof though. Psychopaths and "professional" liars can reprogramme their brain function to minimise anxiety - making them less likely to blink vigorously.

Nevertheless, the next time when you want to tell if someone is lying or anxious or nervous, just watch their eyelids. But don't blink too frequent yourself, or you'll miss it - or worse, people know that you're nervous.