Publication Guidelines and Recommendations for Pupillary Measurement in Psychophysiological Studies

Overview

Journal Psychophysiology

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 2022 Mar 23

PMID 35318693

Authors

Stuart R Steinhauer

Margaret M Bradley

Greg J Siegle

Kathryn A Roecklein

Annika Dix

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

A variety of psychological and physical phenomena elicit variations in the diameter of pupil of the eye. Changes in pupil size are mediated by the relative activation of the sphincter pupillae muscle (decrease pupil diameter) and the dilator pupillae muscle (increase pupil diameter), innervated by the parasympathetic and sympathetic branches, respectively, of the autonomic nervous system. The current guidelines are intended to inform and guide psychophysiological research involving pupil measurement by (1) summarizing important aspects concerning the physiology of the pupil, (2) providing methodological and data-analytic guidelines and recommendations, and (3) briefly reviewing psychological phenomena that modulate pupillary reactivity. Because of the increased ease and tractability of pupil measurement, the goal of these guidelines is to promote accurate recording, analysis, and reporting of pupillary data in psychophysiological research.

Citing Articles

The Acute Effects of a Fast-Food Meal Versus a Mediterranean Food Meal on the Autonomic Nervous System, Lung Function, and Airway Inflammation: A Randomized Crossover Trial.

Silva D, Mendes F, Stanzani V, Moreira R, Pinto M, Beltrao M Nutrients. 2025; 17(4).

PMID: 40004945 PMC: 11858349. DOI: 10.3390/nu17040614.

Repairing Misperceptions of Words Early in a Sentence is More Effortful Than Repairing Later Words, Especially for Listeners With Cochlear Implants.

Smith M, Winn M Trends Hear. 2025; 29:23312165251320789.

PMID: 39995109 PMC: 11851752. DOI: 10.1177/23312165251320789.

Mapping 60 Years of Psychophysiology: A Bibliometric Analysis of Journal Performance, Authorship Trends, and Thematic Evolution.

Panitz C, DellAcqua C Psychophysiology. 2025; 62(2):e70002.

PMID: 39894792 PMC: 11788248. DOI: 10.1111/psyp.70002.

Measuring Realistic Emotional Perception With EEG: A Comparison of Multimodal Videos and Naturalistic Scenes.

Farkas A, Gehr M, Jia H, Sabatinelli D Psychophysiology. 2025; 62(1):e14765.

PMID: 39866091 PMC: 11771703. DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14765.

The fundamentals of eye tracking part 2: From research question to operationalization.

Hooge I, Nuthmann A, Nystrom M, Niehorster D, Holleman G, Andersson R Behav Res Methods. 2025; 57(2):73.

PMID: 39856471 PMC: 11761893. DOI: 10.3758/s13428-024-02590-2.

References

MacLachlan C, Howland H . Normal values and standard deviations for pupil diameter and interpupillary distance in subjects aged 1 month to 19 years. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2002; 22(3):175-82. DOI: 10.1046/j.1475-1313.2002.00023.x. View

Tsukahara J, Engle R . Fluid intelligence and the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021; 118(46). PMC: 8609644. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2110630118. View

Chakraborty B, Steinhauer S . Reporting of minority participation rates and racial differences in schizophrenia and psychophysiological research: improving but still not adequate. Schizophr Res. 2010; 123(1):90-1. PMC: 2939857. DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2010.06.006. View

Wilhelm B, Wilhelm H, Ludtke H, Streicher P, Adler M . Pupillographic assessment of sleepiness in sleep-deprived healthy subjects. Sleep. 1998; 21(3):258-65. View

Bradley M, Miccoli L, Escrig M, Lang P . The pupil as a measure of emotional arousal and autonomic activation. Psychophysiology. 2008; 45(4):602-7. PMC: 3612940. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2008.00654.x. View

Granholm E, Verney S, Perivoliotis D, Miura T . Effortful cognitive resource allocation and negative symptom severity in chronic schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull. 2006; 33(3):831-42. PMC: 2526135. DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbl040. View

. Guidelines on limits of exposure to broad-band incoherent optical radiation (0.38 to 3 microM). International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection. Health Phys. 1997; 73(3):539-54. View

KUGELMASS S, HAKEREM G, Mantgiaris L . A paradoxical conditioning effect in the human pupil. J Gen Psychol. 1969; 80(1st Half):115-27. DOI: 10.1080/00221309.1969.9711278. View

Bafna T, Hansen J . Mental fatigue measurement using eye metrics: A systematic literature review. Psychophysiology. 2021; 58(6):e13828. DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13828. View

10.

Papesh M, Goldinger S . Pupil-BLAH-metry: cognitive effort in speech planning reflected by pupil dilation. Atten Percept Psychophys. 2012; 74(4):754-65. PMC: 5543177. DOI: 10.3758/s13414-011-0263-y. View

11.

Hattar S, Kumar M, Park A, Tong P, Tung J, Yau K . Central projections of melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cells in the mouse. J Comp Neurol. 2006; 497(3):326-49. PMC: 2885916. DOI: 10.1002/cne.20970. View

12.

Urry H, van Reekum C, Johnstone T, Davidson R . Individual differences in some (but not all) medial prefrontal regions reflect cognitive demand while regulating unpleasant emotion. Neuroimage. 2009; 47(3):852-63. PMC: 2766667. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.05.069. View

13.

Henderson R, Bradley M, Lang P . Modulation of the initial light reflex during affective picture viewing. Psychophysiology. 2014; 51(9):815-8. PMC: 4329731. DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12236. View

14.

Geller J, Still M, Morris A . Eyes wide open: Pupil size as a proxy for inhibition in the masked-priming paradigm. Mem Cognit. 2015; 44(4):554-64. DOI: 10.3758/s13421-015-0577-4. View

15.

Engelhardt P, Ferreira F, Patsenko E . Pupillometry reveals processing load during spoken language comprehension. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2009; 63(4):639-45. DOI: 10.1080/17470210903469864. View

16.

Johnstone T, van Reekum C, Urry H, Kalin N, Davidson R . Failure to regulate: counterproductive recruitment of top-down prefrontal-subcortical circuitry in major depression. J Neurosci. 2007; 27(33):8877-84. PMC: 6672169. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2063-07.2007. View

17.

Yeung M, Lee T, Han Y, Chan A . Prefrontal activation and pupil dilation during n-back task performance: A combined fNIRS and pupillometry study. Neuropsychologia. 2021; 159:107954. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107954. View

18.

Ahern S, Beatty J . Pupillary responses during information processing vary with Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. Science. 1979; 205(4412):1289-92. DOI: 10.1126/science.472746. View

19.

Zhao S, Bury G, Milne A, Chait M . Pupillometry as an Objective Measure of Sustained Attention in Young and Older Listeners. Trends Hear. 2019; 23:2331216519887815. PMC: 6883360. DOI: 10.1177/2331216519887815. View

20.

Granholm E, Fish S, Verney S . Pupillometric measures of attentional allocation to target and mask processing on the backward masking task in schizophrenia. Psychophysiology. 2009; 46(3):510-20. PMC: 2734867. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2009.00805.x. View