Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Pupillary responses index cognitive resource limitations

E Granholm1, R F Asarnow, A J Sarkin

  • 1San Diego Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of California 92161, USA. egranholm@ucsd.edu

Psychophysiology
|July 1, 1996
PubMed
Summary

Pupillary responses during cognitive tasks reflect information processing load. Eye tracking data shows pupil dilation increases with task difficulty up to resource limits, then decreases when demands overload cognitive capacity.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Efficacy of Canakinumab vs. triamcinolone acetonide according to multiple gouty arthritis-related health outcomes measures.

International journal of clinical practice·2014
Same author

Surgery for symptomatic infant-onset epileptic encephalopathy with and without infantile spasms.

Neurology·2005
Same author

Cerebral hemispherectomy: hospital course, seizure, developmental, language, and motor outcomes.

Neurology·2004
Same author

Ethical issues in psychosocial interventions research involving controls.

Ethics & behavior·2002
Same author

A randomized controlled pilot study of cognitive behavioral social skills training for older patients with schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia research·2001
Same author

Schizophrenia and schizophrenia-spectrum personality disorders in the first-degree relatives of children with schizophrenia: the UCLA family study.

Archives of general psychiatry·2001

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Psychophysiology

Background:

  • Cognitive task-evoked pupillary responses (CT-EPRs) are reliable indicators of cognitive load.
  • Inconsistent findings exist regarding pupillary responses under high or exceeding processing demands.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate pupillary responses during cognitive tasks that approach or exceed human processing resource limits.
  • To clarify the relationship between cognitive load and pupillary dilation under varying task demands.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized pupillometric recordings during a digit span recall task.
  • Administered tasks with varying cognitive loads: low (5 digits), moderate (9 digits), and excessive (13 digits).
  • Analyzed pupillary responses in 22 undergraduate participants.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Pupillary responses systematically increased with processing load below resource limits (7 +/- 2 digits).
  • Pupillary responses reached an asymptote near resource capacity.
  • Pupillary responses declined significantly under excessive processing load (> 9 digits).

Conclusions:

  • Pupillary responses reliably track cognitive processing demands below capacity.
  • Pupillary dilation plateaus at cognitive resource limits.
  • A decline in pupillary response indicates processing demands exceeding available cognitive resources.