According to a recent study conducted by Inserm in France, the quality of sight depends on how the brain perceives the beating of the heart. Researchers have been interested in the links between brain activity and the way in which external information is processed by the latter.
Heart and Vision: Are They Linked?
The brain, the main organ of the nervous system, controls and regulates other organ systems in the body. It will thus record each heartbeat. From there, the researchers hypothesized: fluctuations in this internal activity and not controlled by the individual would have an influence on cognitive and sensory performance.
The research project, conducted with 17 volunteers, observed the association of brain activity and the beating of the latter’s heart while they performed visual tests. To do this, the researchers used a medical imaging technique, magnetoencephalography: more than 300 sensors are placed on an individual’s skull, thus making it possible to observe the activity of neurons very precisely. Catherine Tallon-Baudry, co-author of the work, explains: “In our case, we looked for areas of the brain whose activity is associated with the beating of the heart. We have found two distinct properties: with each pulse, these regions light up. They detect the beat unconsciously for the subject.“
What are the results of the visual tests?
From a computer screen, the 17 volunteers repeatedly looked at an image that was visible only once in two because it was weakly contrasted. During each test, the researchers tried to correlate the response – that is, whether or not the individual saw the image – with the brain activity associated with the heartbeat. “We tested this phenomenon under normal conditions: it was not a question of artificially stimulating the heart rate, but of knowing if the variations in the spontaneous and normal activity of the brain generated by the beating of the heart interferes with the visual acuity. »Specifies the researcher.
The finding is clear: the greater the brain activity associated with the beating of the heart, the more the volunteers saw the weakly contrasted image. “In retrospect, by analyzing neural responses, we are able to predict whether a subject will see the low contrast object. It is as if the signals coming from the organs of the body could allow the person to develop finer sensations which, ultimately, differentiate us from a robot equipped with a camera processing visual information. These results confirm the fact that the brain’s perception of the body influences sensory functions. We tested it here on sight, but a priori these conclusions should concern the other senses, such as hearing“explains Catherine Tallon-Baudry.
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