It has generally been assumed that the eye rotates upward during eye blinks, thus generating a potential analogous to a vertical eye movement.6-8 However, Matsuo and his colleagues were unable to see eye movement or record an eye blink potential from a patient with unilateral total facial nerve palsy. The blink potential from the non-paralysed side was normal.3 Unfortunately the data in this report do not aid in resolving this controversy. It is of some interest, however, that our blind subject generated a larger response when looking down than when looking up. When asked to look up as far as possible he generated a response only 20% larger than those shown in Fig. 4. In comparison with our normal subjects his eye blink response amplitude was also much smaller. This suggests, although it does not prove, that eye movement does occur during the blink response. If, as Matsuo et al. suggest, the response is produced by a wiping action of the eyelid over a stationary cornea, one would assume that the absolute magnitude in this subject would have been larger and similar to the amplitude of response from combined upward and downward movement.