Lapteva Alexandra, Martarelli Corinna S
Faculty of Psychology, UniDistance Suisse, Brig, Switzerland.
Memory. 2024 Oct;32(9):1211-1226. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2024.2395367. Epub 2024 Aug 27.
Recognition memory, the ability to recognise previously encountered information, correlates with pupil diameter changes during the recognition period. This physiological response, known as the pupil old/new effect, generally reflects the variation in pupil dilation when encountering previously studied (old) stimuli compared to new stimuli. To develop a more precise understanding of the pupil old/new effect, we conducted a meta-analysis of 17 eye-tracking experiments (across 12 articles spanning from 2008 to 2023) involving 560 healthy adults with a mean age of 22.31 years. Analysis of publication bias showed a rather low risk of bias in the selected articles. The main meta-analysis revealed a significant and large pooled pupil old/new effect (Cohen's = 0.73, 95% CI [0.50, 0.95]). Further analysis of moderators showed that the number of participants included in the experiments and the criteria for selecting trials (only correct trials vs. all trials) had a significant impact on the meta-analytic results. In general, the analyses revealed a robust pupil old/new effect across all selected articles. This finding underscores its potential utility as a marker of recognition memory across different stimuli type, and various experimental designs.
再认记忆，即识别先前遇到的信息的能力，与再认期间的瞳孔直径变化相关。这种生理反应，即所谓的瞳孔新旧效应，通常反映了与新刺激相比，遇到先前学习过的（旧）刺激时瞳孔扩张的变化。为了更精确地理解瞳孔新旧效应，我们对17项眼动追踪实验（涵盖2008年至2023年的12篇文章）进行了荟萃分析，这些实验涉及560名平均年龄为22.31岁的健康成年人。发表偏倚分析表明，所选文章中的偏倚风险相当低。主要荟萃分析显示，合并后的瞳孔新旧效应显著且较大（科恩d值 = 0.73，95%置信区间[0.50, 0.95]）。对调节因素的进一步分析表明，实验中纳入的参与者数量以及试验选择标准（仅正确试验与所有试验）对荟萃分析结果有显著影响。总体而言，分析显示在所有所选文章中都存在强大的瞳孔新旧效应。这一发现强调了其作为跨不同刺激类型和各种实验设计的再认记忆标记的潜在效用。
