Is accommodation a confounder in pupillometry research?

L. Kooijman; D. Dodou; S. T. Jansen; T. S. Themans; J. N.M. Russell; S. M. Petermeijer; J. R.C. Doorman; J. H. Hablé; D. S. Neubert; M. J.C. Vos; J. C.F. de Winter

doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108046

Is accommodation a confounder in pupillometry research?

L. Kooijman, D. Dodou, S. T. Jansen, T. S. Themans, J. N.M. Russell, S. M. Petermeijer, J. R.C. Doorman, J. H. Hablé, D. S. Neubert, M. J.C. Vos, J. C.F. de Winter

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3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Much psychological research uses pupil diameter measurements to investigate the cognitive and emotional effects of visual stimuli. A potential problem is that accommodating at a nearby point causes the pupil to constrict. This study examined to what extent accommodation is a confounder in pupillometry research. Participants solved multiplication problems at different distances (Experiment 1) and looked at line drawings with different monocular depth cues (Experiment 2) while their pupil diameter, refraction, and vergence angle were recorded using a photorefractor. Experiment 1 showed that the pupils dilated while performing the multiplications, for all presentation distances. Pupillary constriction due to accommodation was not strong enough to override pupil dilation due to cognitive load. Experiment 2 showed that monocular depth cues caused a small shift in refraction in the expected direction. We conclude that, for the young student sample we used, pupil diameter measurements are not substantially affected by accommodation.

Original language	English
Article number	108046
Number of pages	13
Journal	Biological Psychology
Volume	160
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108046
Publication status	Published - Mar 2021
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Apparent depth
Cognitive load
Mental demands
Near triad
Pupil dilation
Pupillary near reflex

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Cite this

@article{5bd670da12074617b80529b53092118b,

title = "Is accommodation a confounder in pupillometry research?",

abstract = "Much psychological research uses pupil diameter measurements to investigate the cognitive and emotional effects of visual stimuli. A potential problem is that accommodating at a nearby point causes the pupil to constrict. This study examined to what extent accommodation is a confounder in pupillometry research. Participants solved multiplication problems at different distances (Experiment 1) and looked at line drawings with different monocular depth cues (Experiment 2) while their pupil diameter, refraction, and vergence angle were recorded using a photorefractor. Experiment 1 showed that the pupils dilated while performing the multiplications, for all presentation distances. Pupillary constriction due to accommodation was not strong enough to override pupil dilation due to cognitive load. Experiment 2 showed that monocular depth cues caused a small shift in refraction in the expected direction. We conclude that, for the young student sample we used, pupil diameter measurements are not substantially affected by accommodation.",

keywords = "Apparent depth, Cognitive load, Mental demands, Near triad, Pupil dilation, Pupillary near reflex",

author = "L. Kooijman and D. Dodou and Jansen, {S. T.} and Themans, {T. S.} and Russell, {J. N.M.} and Petermeijer, {S. M.} and Doorman, {J. R.C.} and Habl{\'e}, {J. H.} and Neubert, {D. S.} and Vos, {M. J.C.} and {de Winter}, {J. C.F.}",

note = "Funding Information: This work was funded through the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) replication project “Pupil size as related to interest value of visual stimuli (Hess & Polt, 1960)” with project number 401.16.083. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Author(s)",

year = "2021",

month = mar,

doi = "10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108046",

language = "English",

volume = "160",

journal = "Biological Psychology",