Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, College of Health Science and Technology, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
Cognitive Intelligence and Precision Healthcare Research Center, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
Eur J Neurosci. 2021 Nov;54(10):7560-7574. doi: 10.1111/ejn.15508. Epub 2021 Nov 8.
Pupil size reflects a proxy for neural activity associated with global luminance, arousal and cognitive processing. Microsaccades are also modulated by arousal and cognitive processing. Are these effects of arousal and cognitive signals on pupil size and microsaccades coordinated? If so, via what neural mechanisms? We hypothesized that if pupil size and microsaccades are coordinately modulated by these processes, pupil size immediately before microsaccade onset, as an index for ongoing cognitive and arousal processing, should correlate with microsaccade responses during tasks alternating these signals. Here, we examined the relationship between pupil size and microsaccade responses in tasks that included variations in global luminance, arousal and inhibitory control. Higher microsaccade peak velocities correlated with larger pre-microsaccade pupil response related to arousal and inhibitory control signals. In contrast, pupil responses evoked by global luminance signals did not correlate with microsaccade responses. Given the central role of the superior colliculus in microsaccade generation, these results suggest the critical involvement of the superior colliculus to coordinate pupil and microsaccade responses for arousal and inhibitory control modulations, but not for the pupil luminance modulation.
瞳孔大小反映了与全局亮度、觉醒和认知加工相关的神经活动的替代指标。微扫视也受觉醒和认知加工的调节。这些觉醒和认知信号对瞳孔大小和微扫视的影响是否协调？如果是，通过什么神经机制？我们假设，如果瞳孔大小和微扫视受到这些过程的协调调节，那么微扫视开始前的瞳孔大小，作为正在进行的认知和觉醒处理的指标，应该与在这些信号交替的任务中微扫视的反应相关。在这里，我们在包括全局亮度、觉醒和抑制控制变化的任务中检查了瞳孔大小和微扫视反应之间的关系。较高的微扫视峰值速度与与觉醒和抑制控制信号相关的较大微扫视前瞳孔反应相关。相比之下，由全局亮度信号引起的瞳孔反应与微扫视反应无关。鉴于上丘在微扫视产生中的核心作用，这些结果表明上丘对于协调与觉醒和抑制控制调节相关的瞳孔和微扫视反应至关重要，但对于瞳孔亮度调节则不然。
