Population Health Sciences, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.
Institute for Medical Biometry, Informatics and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Psychophysiology. 2022 Nov;59(11):e14089. doi: 10.1111/psyp.14089. Epub 2022 May 6.
Mean pupil size during fixation has been suggested to reflect interindividual differences in working memory and fluid intelligence. However, due to small samples with limited age range (17-35 years) and suboptimal light conditions in previous studies, these associations are still controversial and it is unclear whether they are observed at older ages. Therefore, we assessed whether interindividual differences in cognitive performance are reflected in pupil diameter during fixation and whether these associations are age-dependent. We analyzed pupillometry and cognition data of 4560 individuals aged 30-95 years of the community-based Rhineland Study. Pupillometry data were extracted from a one-minute fixation task. The cognitive test battery included tests of oculomotor control, working memory, episodic verbal memory, processing speed, executive function, and crystallized intelligence. For data analysis, we used multivariable regression models. Working memory and global cognition were not associated with pupil diameter during fixation. Better processing speed performance was associated with larger pupil diameter during fixation. Associations between cognition and pupil diameter during fixation hardly varied with age, but pupil diameter during fixation declined linearly with age (adjusted decline: 0.33 mm per 10 years of age). There were no significant sex differences in pupil size. We conclude that interindividual differences in mean pupil diameter during fixation may partly reflect interindividual differences in the speed of processing and response generation. We could not confirm that interindividual differences in working memory and fluid intelligence are reflected in pupil size during fixation; however, our sample differed in age range from previous studies.
在注视期间的平均瞳孔大小被认为反映了个体间工作记忆和流体智力的差异。然而，由于之前的研究样本量较小（17-35 岁）且光照条件不佳，这些关联仍然存在争议，并且尚不清楚这些关联是否在年龄较大时存在。因此，我们评估了认知表现的个体间差异是否反映在注视期间的瞳孔直径上，以及这些关联是否依赖于年龄。我们分析了基于社区的莱茵兰研究中 4560 名 30-95 岁个体的瞳孔测量和认知数据。瞳孔测量数据是从一分钟的注视任务中提取的。认知测试套件包括眼球运动控制、工作记忆、情景言语记忆、处理速度、执行功能和晶体智力测试。对于数据分析，我们使用了多变量回归模型。工作记忆和整体认知与注视期间的瞳孔直径无关。更好的处理速度表现与注视期间的瞳孔直径较大有关。认知与注视期间瞳孔直径之间的关联几乎不受年龄影响，但注视期间瞳孔直径随年龄呈线性下降（调整后的下降：每 10 岁年龄下降 0.33 毫米）。瞳孔大小在性别间没有显著差异。我们的结论是，注视期间平均瞳孔直径的个体间差异可能部分反映了处理速度和反应生成的个体间差异。我们不能证实工作记忆和流体智力的个体间差异反映在注视期间的瞳孔大小中；然而，我们的样本在年龄范围上与之前的研究不同。
