Final Report: Pupillary Dynamics More than Meets the Eye
Abstract
This report details a three year effort to expand our understanding of pupillary dynamics and improve the methods by which cognitive science researchers measure pupil diameter. Researchers established in the early 1960s that pupil diameter increases during cognitive effort, and that the size of this increase is proportional to the magnitude of that effort. More recent research has suggested that pupil size at rest is significantly correlated with cognitive ability. However, after conducting several studies investigating resting pupil size and cognitive ability, with a combined sample of over 500 active duty personnel, we were unable to replicate this finding; calling this work into question. Additionally, these results were obtained after we developed a new technique to improve the accuracy of remote eye tracking systems by computing a known reference for each participant, using a fiducial marker and inter-pupillary distance. The lack of ground truth has been a long-standing issue for remote eye tracking systems and this research effort provided a solution. Furthermore, although we found no link between pupil size and ability we did find that the degree of variability is correlated with an individuals cognitive ability. This report discusses future applications of pupil diameter measurement for the DoD.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 15, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1164795
Entities
People
- Ciara Sibley
- Joseph Coyne
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory