title: Cognitive effort and pupil dilation in controlled and automatic processes.
abstract: The Five Digits Test (FDT) is a Stroop paradigm test that aims to evaluate executive functions. It is composed of four parts, two of which are related to automatic and two of which are related to controlled processes. It is known that pupillary diameter increases as the task's cognitive demand increases. In the present study, we evaluated whether the pupillary diameter could distinguish cognitive effort between automated and controlled cognitive processing during the FDT as the task progressed. As a control task, we used a simple reading paradigm with a similar visual aspect as the FDT. We then divided each of the four parts into two blocks in order to evaluate the differences between the first and second half of the task. Results indicated that, compared to a control task, the FDT required higher cognitive effort for each consecutive part. Moreover, the first half of every part of the FDT induced dilation more than the second. The differences in pupil dilation during the first half of the four FDT parts were statistically significant between the parts 2 and 4 (p=0.023), and between the parts 3 and 4 (p=0.006). These results provide further evidence that cognitive effort and pupil diameter can distinguish controlled from automatic processes.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Investigações em Neurociência e Clínica da UFMG, Santa Efigênia, 30130-100, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil; Centro de Imagem e Medicina Molecular da UFMG, Santa Efigênia, 30130-100, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Emanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Querino
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Investigações em Neurociência e Clínica da UFMG, Santa Efigênia, 30130-100, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lafaiete
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dos Santos
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicologia, Faculdade União das Américas - Uniamérica, Santa Efigênia, 30130-100, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Giuliano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ginani
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Investigações em Neurociência e Clínica da UFMG, Santa Efigênia, 30130-100, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nicolau
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Investigações em Neurociência e Clínica da UFMG, Santa Efigênia, 30130-100, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil; Centro de Imagem e Medicina Molecular da UFMG, Santa Efigênia, 30130-100, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Débora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Miranda
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Investigações em Neurociência e Clínica da UFMG, Santa Efigênia, 30130-100, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil; Centro de Imagem e Medicina Molecular da UFMG, Santa Efigênia, 30130-100, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Romano-Silva
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Investigações em Neurociência e Clínica da UFMG, Santa Efigênia, 30130-100, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil; Centro de Imagem e Medicina Molecular da UFMG, Santa Efigênia, 30130-100, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leandro
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Malloy-Diniz
keywords: Cognitive effort; Executive functions; Five digits test; Neuropsychology; Psychological evaluation; Pupillary diameter