Yuan Tian, Wang Li, Jiang Yi
School of Psychology, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Science and Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Bio Protoc. 2025 Apr 5;15(7):e5265. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.5265.
Pupil size is a non-invasive and highly sensitive technique used to measure changes in pupil diameter. It not only responds to light but also reflects inner cognitive processes (e.g., attention and emotion perception). Recently, it has been introduced to the traditional cognitive neuroscience field as a useful tool to objectively and sensitively capture the current cognitive state and its temporal dynamics. Importantly, this index is automatic and requires no explicit reports, thus it could be used to investigate the rarely explored realm of implicit cognitive processing. Here, we describe a comprehensive protocol that records pupil responses during the passive viewing of emotional biological motion (BM). Our results reliably reveal the multi-level implicit processing mechanism of BM emotion, as indicated by the fine-grained emotion processing in intact BM and the rapid but rather coarse emotion processing in local BM. Moreover, the emotion modulation effects observed in intact BM are indicative of individual autistic tendencies. We believe this protocol could be adapted to unveil the automatic processing of emotions and other attributes in social signals and further assist the early detection of social-cognitive disorders (e.g., autism). Key features • Pupil measurements could automatically and objectively reflect current cognitive states, which is useful for unfolding the implicit cognitive processes and related time courses. • It requires no explicit reports; thus, with modifications, this procedure could be utilized in a wide range of populations (e.g., infants, patients) and even animals. • Autistic traits strongly correlate with observed emotion-related pupil responses, revealing the potential application of pupil measurements in the detection of social cognitive deficits. • This protocol has been found to reveal the multi-level emotion processing of biological motion, which is further validated by a test-retest replication.
瞳孔大小是一种用于测量瞳孔直径变化的非侵入性且高度敏感的技术。它不仅对光线有反应，还能反映内在的认知过程（如注意力和情绪感知）。最近，它作为一种有用的工具被引入到传统认知神经科学领域，以客观、敏感地捕捉当前的认知状态及其时间动态。重要的是，该指标是自动的，无需明确报告，因此可用于研究鲜有探索的内隐认知加工领域。在此，我们描述了一种全面的方案，用于记录在被动观看情绪性生物运动（BM）期间的瞳孔反应。我们的结果可靠地揭示了BM情绪的多层次内隐加工机制，完整BM中的精细情绪加工以及局部BM中的快速但较为粗略的情绪加工均表明了这一点。此外，在完整BM中观察到的情绪调节效应表明了个体的自闭症倾向。我们相信该方案可用于揭示社会信号中情绪和其他属性的自动加工，并进一步辅助早期发现社会认知障碍（如自闭症）。关键特征 • 瞳孔测量可以自动、客观地反映当前的认知状态，这对于揭示内隐认知过程及相关时间进程很有用。 • 无需明确报告；因此，经过修改，该程序可用于广泛的人群（如婴儿、患者）甚至动物。 • 自闭症特征与观察到的与情绪相关的瞳孔反应密切相关，揭示了瞳孔测量在检测社会认知缺陷方面的潜在应用。 • 已发现该方案揭示了生物运动的多层次情绪加工，重测复制进一步验证了这一点。
