• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.25-28
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• 2012

Background: Bell's palsy is the most common disease of cranial nerve. While most electrodiagnostic tests can detect the abnormality of facial nerve several days later in Bell's palsy, blink reflex usually reveals the abnormality earlier than other tests. Therefore, we investigated the diagnostic usefulness of blink reflex in the early stage of Bell's palsy. Methods: We performed a prospective investigation in patients with facial palsy. We enrolled patients with Bell's palsy who were evaluated within 7 days of symptom onset and excluded patients with secondary causes of facial palsy. We analyzed the findings of blink reflex according to age, sex, evaluation time, and severity of facial palsy. Results: Of 320 consecutive patients with facial palsy, a total of 204 patients were enrolled. Blink reflex was normal for 10 patients and abnormal for 194 patients. The time interval between the symptom onset and the evaluation time was not associated with the result of blink reflex, but House-Brackmann grade was significantly related to the result of blink reflex (P<0.001). Patients with mild Bell's palsy often showed normal blink reflex. Conclusions: Our study shows that blink reflex is useful diagnostic test regardless of evaluation timing in the early stage of Bell's palsy, although it could be normal in patients with mild Bell's palsy.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.283-290
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• 2015

We proposed blink based online speller for the locked-in syndrome (LIS) patients, paralyzed in nearly all voluntary muscles expect for the eyes, with a simple and easy-to-use eye blink detection glasses. Electrooculogram (EOG) is the golden standard method of eye movement or blink measurement with Ag/AgCl electrodes. However, this method has several drawbacks such as skin irritation and dehydration of conductive gel. To resolve the shortcomings, we used a blink detection system based on a transparent capacitively coupled electrode, which is conductive indium tin oxide (ITO) films. The films make it possible to measure eye blink without direct skin contact and obstruction of field of view. We finally developed user-friendly blink based online speller with the blink detection system. To classify voluntary and non-voluntary blink, we used the double blink for command of the speller. The online speller experiment result with six healthy subjects shows that mean accuracy is 98.96% and letter per minute (LPM) is 4.73, which are better result by comparison with conventional P300 or auditory brain-computer interface (BCI) paradigm. The result of the experiment demonstrates the possibility of applying the proposed system as a communication method for the LIS patients.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.391-398
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• 2012

The conventional blink reflex has limited clinical application since it displays a wide range of change in the responses. Thus, we studied the blink reflex using the averaging process which is engaged in evoked potential studies in order to measure various responses such as latency, amplitude, and duration, which have been difficult to measure due to their wide ranges of changes. Among the Bell's palsy patient group, 13 patients who had the symptoms of incomplete palsy were examined to assess the results of the blink reflex through the averaging process. The subjects were 54 people in a normal group (108 eyes) and 18 patients (36 eyes) with Bell's palsy. For the study method, the conventional blink reflex and the blink reflex using the averaging process were measured for the people in the normal group, while in the Bell's palsy group, only the blink reflex using the averaging process was analyzed. In the case of the normal group, the blink reflex using the averaging process could measure all of the latency, amplitude, and duration. It was also observed that the latency, amplitude, and duration of R1, ipsilateral R2, and contralateral R2 significantly differed on the affected side of the Bell's palsy patients, compared to the unaffected side. The blink reflex using the averaging process should be more effective than the conventional method since the former can evaluate the latency, amplitude, and duration for Bell's palsy, while the latter can only assess latency.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.94-102
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• 2011

In this paper, a novel drowsiness detection algorithm using eye-blink pattern is proposed. The proposed drowsiness detection model using finite automata makes it easy to detect eye-blink, drowsiness and sleep by checking the number of input symbols standing for closed eye state only. Also it increases the accuracy by taking vertical projection histogram after locating the eye region using the feature of horizontal projection histogram, and minimizes the external effects such as eyebrows or black-framed glasses. Experimental results in eye-blinks detection using the JZU eye-blink database show that our approach achieves more than 93% precision and high performance.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.101-105
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• 2002

Spontaneous blinking as a function of visual activity and environmental condition with 60 healthy Korean young people(M=30, F=30) was estimated. Spontaneous blink rate of male and female was $19.2{\pm}2.0/min$ and $18.7{\pm}2.0/min$, respectively. There was no significant difference of blink rate in both contact lens wearer and non-wearer of female and also by various visual activity between female and male. Spontaneous blink rate was changed in response to changes in levels of visual activity and environmental condition such as windiness, rut not changed by light. In the more intense fixation spontaneous blink rate was lesser, but in the stronger windiness, the rate was higher than that in normal.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.559-566
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• 2020

Background Infraorbital nerve dysfunction is commonly reported after zygomaticomaxillary complex fractures. We evaluated sensory changes in four designated areas (eyelid, nose, zygoma, and lip) innervated by the infraorbital nerve. This evaluation was conducted using the static two-point discrimination test and the vibration threshold test. We assessed the diagnostic significance of the blink reflex in patients with infraorbital nerve dysfunction. Methods This study included 18 patients, all of whom complained of some degree of infraorbital nerve dysfunction preoperatively. A visual analog scale, the infraorbital blink reflex, static two-point discrimination, and the vibration threshold were assessed preoperatively, at 1 month postoperatively (T1), and at a final follow-up that took place at least 4 months postoperatively (T4). The results were analyzed using a multilevel generalized linear mixed model. Results Scores on the visual analog scale significantly improved at T1 and T4. The infraorbital blink reflex significantly improved at T4. Visual analog scale scores improved more rapidly than the infraorbital blink reflex. Two-point discrimination significantly improved in all areas at T4, and the vibration perception threshold significantly improved in the eyelid at T4. Conclusions Recovery of the infraorbital blink reflex reflected the recovery of infraorbital nerve dysfunction. We also determined that the lip tended to recover later than the other areas innervated by the infraorbital nerve.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.99-104
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• 2014

Generally, human eye blinks are closely associated with the cognitive state or visual attention such as attentional requirements on visual stimuli. These previous studies have reported that eye blinks are related to explicit visual attention using blink rate, pattern and blink timing across subjects. However, these results have been obtained in a well-controlled experimental settings. So, it would prove difficult to investigate human's natural response in a continuous and realistic situation. In our study, we measured the eye blink intervals while participants viewed a movie clip. And we analyzed the blink interval data for relationship between visual attention and eye blink intervals. 24 participants took part in two experimental sessions, first session to measure the IEBI while viewing the movie clip and second session to conduct a memory performance test using a self-questionnaire, which were spaced 3 weeks apart. The results indicate significantly higher memory performance at long IEBI period than short IEBI period while watching a movie clip(t = 3.257, df = 17, p < 0.005, 2-tailed). In addition, memory performance score significantly correlated with the IEBI value(spearman's rho = 0.40, N = 36, p < 0.01, 2-tailed). Our results suggest that IEBI is used to measure or assess visual attention while wiewing the movie that it is capable of simulating aspects of real-life experiences by visual attention. Thus, we expect IEBI to be used to measure or assess our visual attention, cognition, further emotion about not only movies, advertisements and other cultural contents but also cognitive science.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.88-92
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• 2005

Blink reflex could be a useful tool to differentiate facial synkinesis as one of complications of facial neuropathy, from volitional associated movements. We had performed applied blink reflex test for 23 patients with objective evidence of hemifacial weakness in which orbicularis oculi muscle(zygomatic branch) and mentalis muscle(mandibular branch) are electrophysiologically evaluated in response to supraorbital stimulation of trigeminal nerve. For an unaffected side of face there is no evidence of positive blink reflex from the mentalis muscle. We concluded that a positive blink reflex from mentalis muscle is almost always suggestive of chronic facial neuropathy even in clinical silence of facial synkinesis, or an aberrant reinnervation after peripheral facial neuropathy, and does not electrophysiologically correlate with the severity of facial palsy.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.127-136
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• 2017

Attentional blink is observed in an identification task of multiple targets during rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) where performance for the second target (T2) that follows within 500ms of the first (T1) shows systematic decrease although that for T1 remains highly accurate. Theories accounting for attentional blink can be classified into two broad categories of resource depletion model and disruption of input filter model. Meanwhile, visual attention capacity shows hemifield independence between left and right visual fields, and many studies reported bilateral advantage in a range of visual working memory tasks. The current research tested two major theories of attentional blink using bilateral independence of attentional capacity. To this end, we conducted two experiments where two RSVPs were presented in either bilateral or unilateral visual fields. Experiment 1 presented two RSVPs which contained both T1 and T2 in either bilateral or unilateral visual fields and tested interaction between attentional blink and bilateral advantage. Experiment 2 removed T1 in one of the two RSVPs to test whether attentional blink obtains when identification of T1 and T2 utilize independent sources of attention across two visual fields. The results showed that subjects were more accurate when two RSVPs were presented in bilateral visual fields (i.e., bilateral advantage) although there was no interaction between attentional blink and bilateral advantage (Experiment 1). In addition, attentional blink for T2 was observed in a T1-absent RSVP even when two RSVPs were presented in bilateral visual fields (Experiment 2). These results support disruption of input filter model rather than resource depletion model.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.13-16
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• 2014

This study aims to examine the effects of watching 2D and 3D images on the blink rate. Regarding the image watch, their blink rate for 2D and 3D images was separately checked for 1 minute in the 1m distance, before the watch, after 15 minutes of watch, and after 30 minutes of watch. About the change of their blink rate in the 2D image watch, it tended to become higher than that before watching the image; however, there was no statistical significance (paired t-test, p=0.106, p=0.062). And in the 2D image watch, it tended to increase in comparison between after 15 minutes and after 30 minutes, but there was no statistical significance (paired t-test, p=0.623). Meanwhile, about the change of their blink rate in the 3D image watch, it tended to decrease statistically significantly both after 15 minutes and after 30 minutes when compared with that before watching the image (paired t-test, p=0.000, p=0.000). In the 3D image watch, it tended to increase in comparison between after 15 minutes and after 30 minutes; however, there was no statistical significance (paired t-test, p=0.867).