Your eyes blink in time with the music!

Music influences the human body in ways that go far beyond enjoyment and conscious movement. Our eyes naturally blink in time with a steady musical beat, revealing a hidden connection between hearing and involuntary movement.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences studied over 100 participants while they listened to Western classical music with an even tempo. Without being instructed to move, participants' spontaneous eye blinks synchronised with the rhythm, and their brain activity aligned with the beat as well. This process is linked to auditory–motor synchronisation, the brain mechanism that allows people to move in time with sound.

To rule out familiarity with the music, the researchers played the songs backwards and also used simple rhythmic tones. In both cases, blinking still matched the beat, showing that the effect was driven by rhythm rather than melody or memory.

The synchronisation disappeared when participants were asked to focus on an unrelated visual task, such as watching for a red dot on a screen. This suggests that attention to the music is required, even if people are not consciously aware of the response.

This insight could one day help improve music-based therapies and provide simple ways to study attention and brain health. By revealing how deeply music affects the brain, the findings may support new approaches to healthcare, therapy, and everyday wellbeing.

Source: PLOS Biology