title: Pupil dilation patterns reflect the contents of consciousness.
abstract: The study of human consciousness has historically depended on introspection. However, introspection is constrained by what can be remembered and verbalized. Here, we demonstrate the utility of high temporal resolution pupillometry to track the locus of conscious attention dynamically, over a single trial. While eye-tracked, participants heard several musical clips played diotically (same music in each ear) and, later, dichotically (two clips played simultaneously, one in each ear). During dichotic presentation, participants attended to only one ear. We found that the temporal pattern of pupil dilation dynamics over a single trial discriminated which piece of music was consciously attended on dichotic trials. Deconvolving these pupillary responses further revealed the real-time changes in stimulus salience motivating pupil dilation. Taken together, these results show that pupil dilation patterns during single-exposure to dynamic stimuli can be exploited to discern the contents of conscious attention.
authors.affiliation: Dartmouth College, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 6207 Moore Hall, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. Electronic address: olivia.e.kang@dartmouth.edu.
authors.forename: Olivia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Dartmouth College, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 6207 Moore Hall, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. Electronic address: thalia.p.wheatley@dartmouth.edu.
authors.forename: Thalia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wheatley
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology*; D004007:Dichotic Listening Tests; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D011680:Pupil / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Attention; Consciousness; Deconvolution; Dichotic listening; Dynamic time warping; Locus coeruleus; Norepinephrine; Pupil diameter; Pupillometry