RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Pupillometry signatures of sustained attention and working memory
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.01.18.426969
DO 10.1101/2021.01.18.426969
A1 Paul A. Keene
A1 Megan T. deBettencourt
A1 Edward Awh
A1 Edward K. Vogel
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/01/20/2021.01.18.426969.abstract
AB There exists an intricate relationship between attention and working memory. Recent work has further established that attention and working memory fluctuate synchronously, by tightly interleaving sustained attention and working memory tasks. This work has raised many open questions about physiological signatures underlying these behavioral fluctuations. Across two experiments, we explore pupil dynamics using real-time triggering in conjunction with an interleaved sustained attention and working memory task. In Experiment 1, we use behavioral real-time triggering and replicate recent findings from our lab (deBettencourt et al., 2019) that sustained attention fluctuates concurrently with the number of items maintained in working memory. Furthermore, highly attentive moments, detected via behavior, also exhibited larger pupil sizes. In Experiment 2, we develop a novel real-time pupil triggering technique to track pupil size fluctuations in real time and trigger working memory probes. We reveal that this pupil triggering procedure elicits differences in sustained attention, as indexed by response time. These experiments reflect methodological advances in real-time triggering and further characterize an important biomarker of sustained attention.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.