Pupil dilation during recognition memory : isolating unexpected recognition from judgment uncertainty
Abstract
Optimally discriminating familiar from novel stimuli demands a decision-making process informed by prior expectations. Here we demonstrate that pupillary dilation (PD) responses during recognition memory decisions are modulated by expectations, and more specifically, that pupil dilation increases for unexpected compared to expected recognition. Furthermore, multi-level modeling demonstrated that the time course of the dilation during each individual trial contains separable early and late dilation components, with the early amplitude capturing unexpected recognition, and the later trailing slope reflecting general judgment uncertainty or effort. This is the first demonstration that the early dilation response during recognition is dependent upon observer expectations and that separate recognition expectation and judgment uncertainty components are present in the dilation time course of every trial. The findings provide novel insights into adaptive memory-linked orienting mechanisms as well as the general cognitive underpinnings of the pupillary index of autonomic nervous system activity.
Citation
Mill , R D , O'Connor , A R & Dobbins , I 2016 , ' Pupil dilation during recognition memory : isolating unexpected recognition from judgment uncertainty ' , Cognition , vol. 154 , pp. 81-94 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2016.05.018
Publication
Cognition
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0010-0277Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2016.05.018
Description
Ravi D. Mill was supported by a PhD studentship from the Scottish Imaging Network: A Platform for Scientific Excellence (SINAPSE), and a period of two months at Washington University in St Louis was funded by a SINAPSE Early Career Researcher Exchange Award. Akira R. O’Connor is supported by a SINAPSE Fellowship.Collections
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