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Cited by 137Gaze Tracking and Assistive TechnologyHeart Rate Variability and Autonomic ControlNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Publication guidelines and recommendations for pupillary measurement in psychophysiological studies

Open access
Steinhauer, Stuart R., Bradley, Margaret M., Siegle, Greg J., Roecklein, Kathryn A., Dix, Annika·2022·Psychophysiology
DOI 10.1111/psyp.14035PMC PMC9272460
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Abstract

A variety of psychological and physical phenomena elicit variations in the diameter of pupil of the eye. Changes in pupil size are mediated by the relative activation of the sphincter pupillae muscle (decrease pupil diameter) and the dilator pupillae muscle (increase pupil diameter), innervated by the parasympathetic and sympathetic branches, respectively, of the autonomic nervous system. The current guidelines are intended to inform and guide psychophysiological research involving pupil measurement by (1) summarizing important aspects concerning the physiology of the pupil, (2) providing methodological and data‐analytic guidelines and recommendations, and (3) briefly reviewing psychological phenomena that modulate pupillary reactivity. Because of the increased ease and tractability of pupil measurement, the goal of these guidelines is to promote accurate recording, analysis, and reporting of pupillary data in psychophysiological research.

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  • Pupil size analysis included participants with usable data for at least 50% of the task and excluded participants missing more than one third of all trials.

    “We analysed pupil sizes of the left eye as measured as the length of the major axis in mm for all participants where usable data was collected for at least 50% of the task [38].”

    From Predicting emotional valence in autism: a preregistered study in the Bayesian Brain framework (2026) · cites this paper as [38]

    The Data reduction section recommends minimum trial counts for estimating pupil responses and asks researchers to report how much data they rejected. It does not specify a requirement for usable data from at least 50% of a task or exclusion of participants missing more than one third of trials; searches for both thresholds found no supporting passage. The one-third criterion also does not appear in the supplied citing sentence. (LLM, conf=0.76)

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 9

  1. Alexandridis E (1985). The Pupil (Die Pupille, translated by T. Telger). Springer.
  2. American National Standards Institute and Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. (2005). Recommended practice for photobiological safety for lamps and lamp systems—General requirements (pp. 1– 28). American National Standards Institute and Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, RP 27.1–05.
  3. Bach L (1908). Pupillenlehre. Anatomie, physiologie und pathologie. Methodik der untersuching. Karger.
  4. Beatty J (1986). The pupillary system. In Coles GH, Donchin E, & Porges SW (Eds.), Psychophysiology: Systems, process, and applications (pp. 43– 50). Guilford Press.
  5. Ereshefsky L, & Richards A (1992). Psychosis. In Young LY & Koda-Kimble MA (Eds.), Applied Therapeutics: The Clinical Use of Drugs (pp. 1189– 1230). Applied Therapeutics, Inc.
  6. Foster P (1989). Neuroleptic equivalence. The Pharmaceutical Journal, 290, 431– 432.
  7. Janisse M-P (Ed.). (1974). Pupillary dynamics and behavior. Plenum Press.
  8. Lowenstein O, Loewenfeld IE, 1962. The pupil. In: Davson. (Ed.), The eye (Vol. 3, pp. 231– 267). Academic Press.
  9. Woodmansee JJ (1966). Methodological problems in pupillographic experiments. Proceedings, 74th Annual Convention. American Psychological Association, 1, 133– 134.

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Authors
Steinhauer, S. R., Bradley, M. M., Siegle, G. J., Roecklein, K. A., & Dix, A.
Affiliations
  • University of Pittsburgh (US)
  • University of Florida (US)
  • Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop (DE)
Corresponding author
  • Steinhauer, Stuart R.
  • Bradley, Margaret M.
ORCID
Venue
Psychophysiology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2022-03-22
Volume
59
Issue
4
Pages
e14035-e14035
ISSN
  • 0048-5772 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-8986
DOI
10.1111/psyp.14035
PMC
PMC9272460
OpenAlex
W4220715079
Cited by
137
References
215
Citations by year
2026: 26 · 2025: 57 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 1 · 2013: 1
FWCI
13.47
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Psychophysiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH096334, R01MH055762, R01MH103313, R21MH120431, R03MH096119)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Gaze Tracking and Assistive Technology
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
pupil size, pupil reactivity, autonomic nervous system, reporting guidelines
MeSH terms
Autonomic Nervous System, Humans, Psychophysiology, Pupil, Reflex, Pupillary

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