Pupil diameter tracks changes in control state predicted by the adaptive gain theory of locus coeruleus function

By Mark S. Gilzenrat, Sander Nieuwenhuis, Marieke Jepma, J. Cohen. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 2010

720 citations recorded by the source corpus.

An important dimension of cognitive control is the adaptive regulation of the balance between exploitation (pursuing known sources of reward) and exploration (seeking new ones) in response to changes in task utility. Recent studies have suggested that the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system may play an important role in this function and that pupil diameter can be used to index locus coeruleus activity. On the basis of this, we reasoned that pupil diameter may correlate closely with control state and associated changes in behavior. Specifically, we predicted that increases in baseline pupil diameter would be associated with decreases in task utility and disengagement from the task (exploration), whereas reduced baseline diameter (but increases in task-evoked dilations) would be associated with task engagement (exploitation). Findings in three experiments were consistent with these predictions, suggesting that pupillometry may be useful as an index of both control state and, indirectly, locus coeruleus function.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/10300aae0dccc235174692a84d8b98e9882311b2

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In Cognitive Neuroscience

Citations in the corpus

Relationships between pupil diameter and neuronal activity in the locus coeruleus, colliculi, and cingulate cortex (2015, methodology): “The proposed functional association between LC activation and pupil diameter is based largely on indirect evidence, including anatomical and pharmacological studies, fMRI and electroencephalogram (EEG) studies that measured both brain activity and pupil diameter, and common factors that drive LC and”
Cortical membrane potential signature of optimal states for sensory signal detection (2015, methodology): “The human pupil is reactive to emotional and cognitive state, and has been used to infer the person's level of arousal, attentiveness, cognitive load or brain-wide ''gain'' (Bradley et al., 2008; Eldar et al., 2013; Gilzenrat et al., 2010; Jepma and Nieuwenhuis, 2011; Murphy et al., 2011).”
Beyond eye gaze: What else can eyetracking reveal about cognition and cognitive development? (2016, background): “dilations, which were associated with diminished phasic responses (Gilzenrat et al., 2010; Murphy et al., 2011).”
Pupil diameter covaries with BOLD activity in human locus coeruleus (2014, methodology): “The oddball task is a simple attentional paradigm with well-characterized effects on pupil diameter in humans [Gilzenrat et al., 2010; Murphy et al., 2011] and LC activity in non-human primates [Aston-Jones et al.”
Pupil Diameter Predicts Changes in the Exploration–Exploitation Trade-off: Evidence for the Adaptive Gain Theory (2011, background): “Because the evidence for a close relationship between pupil diameter and LC activity is currently limited (Gilzenrat et al., 2010; Nieuwenhuis et al., in press; Rajkowski et al., 1993), more mechanism underlying this putative relationship remains to be determined.”
Pupil size variations correlate with physical effort perception (2014, background): “Spontaneous and drug-induced changes in arousal are accompanied by both modifications of the Locus Coeruleus activity and baseline pupil diameter variations (discussed in Gilzenrat et al., 2010).”
Rational regulation of learning dynamics by pupil–linked arousal systems (2012, background): “(7) Bayesian model with hazard rate (H) as the only free parameter.”
Pupil fluctuations track fast switching of cortical states during quiet wakefulness (2014, positive): “For almost half a century, pupillometry has been widely used to index covert changes in attention and effort in humans and nonhuman primates (Gilzenrat et al., 2010; Hess and Polt, 1960, 1964; Iriki et al., 1996; Kahneman, 1973; Kahneman and Beatty, 1966; Kristjansson et al., 2009; Onorati et al.,…”
Waking State: Rapid Variations Modulate Neural and Behavioral Responses (2015, positive): “Human and animal studies have shown that changes in pupil diameter (after controlling for changes associated with luminance and depth accommodation) are correlated with arousal, attention, emotion, cognitive perception, and ‘‘brain gain,’’ as well as heart rate and galvanic skin reflex, indicating a”
Inhibitory control in WM gate-opening: Insights from alpha desynchronization and norepinephrine activity under atDCS stimulation (2024, background): “…signifies that individuals endowed with stronger inhibitory control capability as indicated by higher levels of alpha desynchronization necessitate less phasic NE activities as indicated by reduced pupil dilation (Aston-Jones and Cohen, 2005; Beatty, 1982; Gilzenrat et al., 2010) to open the gate.”