The kids had to dive underwater and place their heads onto a panel. From there they could see a card displaying either vertical or horizontal lines. Once they had stared at the card, they came back to the surface to report which direction the lines travelled. Each time they dived down, the lines would get thinner, making the task harder. It turned out that the Moken children were able to see twice as well as European children who performed the same experiment at a later date.
With the exception, I suppose, that with eye irritation it would be more difficult to complete the tests in the first place.
>She did notice, however, that the European kids would experience red eyes, irritated by the salt in the water, whereas the Moken children appeared to have no such problem. “So perhaps there is some adaptation there that allows them to dive down 30 times without any irritation,” she says.
I'm not sure it needs to be an adaptation (in a genetic sense), I think like most things our bodies just get used to it. I used to open my eyes underwater when swimming at the beach as a child on holidays, but not an adult. Having a salt water pool at home probably helped, but now that I rarely go to the beach it stings.
Right, I just mentioned that sometimes I got irritated eyes specifically in overly chlorinated public pools or swimming in indoor pools. Since I know that is a common complaint.
The kids had to dive underwater and place their heads onto a panel. From there they could see a card displaying either vertical or horizontal lines. Once they had stared at the card, they came back to the surface to report which direction the lines travelled. Each time they dived down, the lines would get thinner, making the task harder. It turned out that the Moken children were able to see twice as well as European children who performed the same experiment at a later date.
With the exception, I suppose, that with eye irritation it would be more difficult to complete the tests in the first place.