A study by DBT/ Wellcome Trust India Alliance Intermediate Fellow - Dr Supriya Ray

Our pupil’s aperture (opening of the lens's diaphragm through which light enters) constricts in response to a sudden increase in the light intensity. The current study shows that the speed of pupil’s constriction is influenced by the time we take to react to the visual object by moving our gaze towards it – known as saccade reaction time (SRT). Simulation of a biomechanical model of pupillary muscle plants suggests a strong interlink between the oculomotor system, which controls rapid (saccadic) eye movements, and the autonomic nervous system that regulates involuntary physiological processes such as constriction and dilation of the pupil.

We recruited twenty healthy young people to perform a decision-making task (shown in this video). In this task, they identified the target (a grey square) from three identical distractors based on a decision cue (four checker boxes painted in cyan and magenta colours in different proportions) displayed for 500 milliseconds. The checkered box with maximum magenta indicated the location of the target. Participants indicated their choice by orienting their gaze to the target. While performing the task, we monitored their pupil size and gaze. Each participant performed a few hundred trials of the task. We segregated trials based on reaction times of eye movements. In addition, we also used a biomechanical model of PLR incorporating the FEF and SC activity.

Based on a study published in the European Journal of Neuroscience.
Learn more about this study here ([ Ссылка ])
Video Credit: Pragya Pandey

About DBT/Wellcome India Alliance

DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance (India Alliance; www.indiaalliance.org) is an independent, dynamic public charity that funds research in health and biomedical sciences in India. India Alliance invests in transformative ideas and supportive research ecosystems to advance discovery and innovation to improve health and well-being. India Alliance encourages diversity, inclusivity, and transparency in science and works to facilitate engagement of science with society.
The article is featured in the European Journal of Neuroscience. Raed a

India Alliance is funded by Department of Biotechnology (DBT; www.dbtindia.gov.in), Government of India and Wellcome Trust, UK (www.wellcome.ac.uk).

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