Children’s blink rates linked to cognitive flexibility in new study

Research involving 113 young children found an association between spontaneous blink rate, performance on a rule-switching task and activity in the prefrontal cortex. The finding offers a new direction for developmental research, but does not make blink counting a tool for early childhood educators.

How often young children blink may be associated with the development of cognitive flexibility, according to a study published in Communications Psychology on 15 September 2026.

The researchers examined whether spontaneous eye-blink rate was related to children’s ability to change rules during a card-sorting task. They also measured activity in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region involved in executive function. 

Executive function includes skills children use to manage information, regulate their responses and adapt when circumstances change. Cognitive flexibility, the focus of this study, helps a child move from one rule or approach to another.

The study involved 113 children aged 35 to 80 months, recruited from two preschools in Japan. Children sorted cards by colour and shape, then completed stages in which the sorting rule changed or alternated. Researchers counted blinks from video recordings and used functional near-infrared spectroscopy to measure changes in prefrontal brain activity during the task. Usable blink-rate data were available for 112 children. 

Older children generally performed better when switching rules and had higher blink rates. Across the group, children with higher blink rates also tended to perform better on the switching task. That association remained after the researchers accounted for age, although it was smaller.

Higher blink rates and stronger switching performance were also associated with greater task-related activity in a right-side region of the prefrontal cortex. The researchers suggest blink rate could help them investigate how executive function develops in early childhood. 

The findings are relevant to early childhood education and care (ECEC) because cognitive flexibility is part of children’s everyday learning. Children use it when a game changes, a familiar plan no longer works or they try a different way to solve a problem.

The study adds to understanding of the brain activity associated with those developing skills. It does not show that an educator can judge a child’s attention, self-regulation or developmental progress by watching how often they blink. Nor did the researchers test blink counting as a screening method for developmental conditions. 

There are limits to what the findings can establish. The researchers compared children of different ages at one point in time rather than following the same children as they grew. Blink rate is also influenced by multiple biological processes, and the study did not establish that blinking causes changes in cognitive performance or directly measures a particular brain chemical. 

For ECEC professionals, the practical message is to keep supporting and observing flexible thinking through children’s play, relationships and daily experiences. Blink rate remains a subject for further research, rather than an additional observation or assessment task for services.

Read the full study information here.