fMRI Cortical Correlates of Spontaneous Eye Blinks in the Nonhuman Primate

Eyeblinks are defined as a rapid closing and opening of the eyelid. Three types of blinks are defined: spontaneous, reflexive, and voluntary. Here, we focus on the cortical correlates of spontaneous blinks, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the nonhuman primate. Our observations reveal an ensemble of cortical regions processing the somatosensory, proprioceptive, peripheral visual, and possibly nociceptive consequences of blinks. These observations indicate that spontaneous blinks have consequences on the brain beyond the visual cortex, possibly contaminating fMRI protocols that generate in the participants heterogeneous blink behaviors. This is especially the case when these protocols induce (nonunusual) eye fatigue and corneal dryness due to demanding fixation requirements, as is the case here. Importantly, no blink related activations were observed in the prefrontal and parietal blinks motor command areas nor in the prefrontal, parietal, and medial temporal blink suppression areas. This indicates that the absence of activation in these areas is not a signature of the absence of blink contamination in the data. While these observations increase our understanding of the neural bases of spontaneous blinks, they also strongly call for new criteria to identify whether fMRI recordings are contaminated by a heterogeneous blink behavior or not.