Pupil response as an objective measure of visual acuity

Pupillary responses to brief presentations of sinusoidal grating patterns were measured. The results show that the amplitude of the pupillary responses varies systematically with grating spatial frequency. Gratings of spatial frequencies in the range 1-5 c deg-1 elicited the maximum percentage change in pupil area, with higher and lower spatial frequency gratings producing smaller responses. The bandpass nature of the pupil response function was compared to contrast sensitivity functions obtained under the same viewing conditions. The effects of defocus and eccentric fixation on both contrast sensitivity and pupil response functions were qualitatively similar. Grating acuities calculated from contrast sensitivity data correlated well with similar data extracted from pupil response functions. The results suggest that automated pupillometry can provide an attractive means for objective measurement of visual acuity.