Pupil Size in Relation to Mental Activity during Simple Problem-Solving
Abstract
Changes in pupil size during the solving of simple multiplication problems can be used as a direct measure of mental activity. The pupil response not only indicates mental activity in itself but shows that mental activity is closely correlated with problem difficulty, and that the size of the pupil increases with the difficulty of the problem. These findings relate to recent Russian research on the pupillary reflex in connection with orienting and brain stimulation.
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Numerous studies in various fields have found pupillometry to be useful to measure cognitive load.
“Numerous studies in various fields have also found pupillometry to be useful to measure cognitive load (Beatty 1982;Hess 1965;Hess and Polt 1964;Kahneman and Beatty 1966;Klingner et al. 2008Klingner et al. , 2011;;Paas et al. 2003;Szulewski et al. 2014).”
From Measuring physician cognitive load: validity evidence for a physiologic and a psychometric tool (2017) · cites this paper as Hess and Polt 1964
Cites
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“In parallel work, over the last 50 years, waking brain state has been assessed in psychophysical experiments by monitoring the diameter of the pupil (Hess and Polt, 1960, 1964; Kahneman and Beatty, 1966).”
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- Authors
- Hess, E. H., & Polt, J. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Chicago (US)
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1964-03-13
- Volume
- 143
- Issue
- 3611
- Pages
- 1190-1192
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2029570806
- Cited by
- 1,169
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 50 · 2025: 65 · 2024: 83 · 2023: 73 · 2022: 73 · 2021: 81 · 2020: 86 · 2019: 77 · 2018: 72 · 2017: 66 · 2016: 54 · 2015: 50 · 2014: 54 · 2013: 37 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 17.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Gaze Tracking and Assistive Technology
- Keywords
- pupil size, pupillary reflex, mental activity, problem solving, multiplication problems, problem difficulty, orienting, brain stimulation, psychophysiology
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