Your Effort Is Showing! Pupil Dilation Reveals Memory Heuristics

International Journal of Psychophysiology

Hout

2012

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122

137

Voice-specificity effects in recognition memory were investigated using both behavioral data and pupillometry. Volunteers initially heard spoken words and nonwords in two voices; they later provided confidence-based old/new classifications to items presented in their original voices, changed (but familiar) voices, or entirely new voices. Recognition was more accurate for old-voice items, replicating prior research. Pupillometry was used to gauge cognitive demand during both encoding and testing: Enlarged pupils revealed that participants devoted greater effort to encoding items that were subsequently recognized. Further, pupil responses were sensitive to the cue match between encoding and retrieval voices, as well as memory strength. Strong memories, and those with the closest encoding-retrieval voice matches, resulted in the highest peak pupil diameters. The results are discussed with respect to episodic memory models and Whittlesea’s (1997) SCAPE framework for recognition memory.

Section: Pupillometrysupporting

confidence: 86%

Memory strength and specificity revealed by pupillometry

International Journal of Psychophysiology

Hout

2012

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122

137

“…In our study, we examined naming times but also estimated cognitive demands via pupillometry. As noted earlier, researchers have long examined the pupillary reflex to study cognitive processes, including lexical decision (Kuchinke et al, 2007), visual search (Porter et al, 2007), attention and concentration (Bradshaw, 1968), imagery (Paivio & Simpson, 1966), and memory (Papesh & Goldinger, 2011; Papesh, Goldinger, & Hout, 2012). In such studies, the pupils begin to dilate within 200–300 ms following the onset of a stimulus for cognitive processing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pupil-BLAH-metry: Cognitive effort in speech planning reflected by pupil dilation

Atten Percept Psychophys

2012

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In reading research, a longstanding question is whether any stages of lexical processing require central attention, and whether such potential demands are frequency-sensitive. In the present study, we examined the allocation of cognitive effort in lexical processing by examining pupil dilations and naming latencies in a modified delayed naming procedure. In this dual-task/change procedure, participants read words and waited for various delays before being signaled to issue a response. On most trials (80%), participants issued a standard naming response. On the remaining trials, they were cued to abandon the original speech plan, saying “blah” instead, thereby equating production across different words. Using feature-matched low- and high-frequency words, we observed the differences in pupil dilations as a function of word frequency. Indeed, frequency-sensitive cognitive demands were seen in word processing, even after naming responses were issued. The results suggest that word perception and/or speech planning requires the frequency-sensitive allocation of cognitive resources.

“…This effect was recently extended to encompass effects related to memory strength (Heaver & Hutton, 2011; Papesh & Goldinger, 2011). 1 Otero, Weekes, and Hutton (2011) recently examined memory strength via the classic “remember/know” paradigm, and we (Papesh, Goldinger, & Hout, 2011) coupled overt confidence ratings with the subsequent-memory paradigm often used in ERP investigations.…”

Section: Pupil Dilation In Long-term Encoding and Retrievalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pupil Dilation Reflects the Creation and Retrieval of Memories

2012

Curr Dir Psychol Sci

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224

154

It has long been known that pupils—the apertures that allow light into the eyes—dilate and constrict not only in response to changes in ambient light but also in response to emotional changes and arousing stimuli (e.g., Fontana, 1765). Charles Darwin (1872) related changes in pupil diameter to fear and other “emotions” in animals. For decades, pupillometry has been used to study cognitive processing across many domains, including perception, language, visual search, and short-term memory. Historically, such studies have examined the pupillary reflex as a correlate of attentional demands imposed by different tasks or stimuli—pupils typically dilate as cognitive demand increases. Because the neural mechanisms responsible for such task-evoked pupillary reflexes (TEPRs) implicate a role for memory processes, recent studies have examined pupillometry as a tool for investigating the cognitive processes underlying the creation of new episodic memories and their later retrieval. Here, we review the historical antecedents of current pupillometric research and discuss several recent studies linking pupillary dilation to the on-line consumption of cognitive resources in long-term-memory tasks. We conclude by discussing the future role of pupillometry in memory research and several methodological considerations that are important when designing pupillometric studies.