eli5: why do our eyes blink at the same time?
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Reason 1:
our vision needs both eyes to function properly. The main problem with only having one eye is that you lose a lot of depth perception.
blinking with one eye each time would constantly confuse your brain as it uses both eyes to properly form your vision.
Reason 2:
Most stuff that make us need to blink affect both eyes, like dirt or sand blown in your face which is why both eyes blink for that reflex.
Reason 3:
blinking with both eyes doesn’t really give us any disadvantages. The 1/10th of a second that your blind doesn’t really make a difference in most survival situations.
“survival of the fittest” isn’t a thing. its “survival of good enough”. If you can survive to reproduce, natural selection/evolution doesn’t do anything.
Because of the brain’s synchronization of the signals from the cranial nerves. The brain signals the tiny muscles around the eyes responsible for blinking. Because the cranial nerves controlling blinking are connected to both eyes, the same signal is sent to both eyes, so they both blink at the same time.
So we don’t look like geckos or psychopaths?
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