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Neurological Sciences
Published in: Neurological Sciences 2/2021

01-02-2021 | Original Article

Pupil dilation as an indicator of future thinking

Authors: Mohamad El Haj, Ahmed A. Moustafa

Published in: Neurological Sciences | Issue 2/2021

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Abstract

Background

The pupil typically dilates in reaction to cognitive load. In this study, we, for the first time, investigated whether future thinking (i.e., the ability to generate hypothetical scenarios in the future) would result in pupil dilation.

Methods

We recorded pupil dilation of participants during two conditions: past and future thinking. In past thinking, we invited participants to retrieve past personal events, while in future thinking, we invited them to imagine an event that may occur in the future.

Results

Analysis demonstrated a larger pupil size during future than past thinking. Results also demonstrated longer retrieval time of future events compared with past ones, suggesting that future thinking perhaps requires more cognitive load than for past thinking. Interestingly, retrieval times during past and future thinking were positively correlated with pupil size.

Discussion

The finding that future thinking activates pupil dilation could be due to the fact that while both past and future thinking require retrieving information from memory, future, but not past, thinking additionally requires the ability to recombine this information into novel scenarios.
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Metadata
Title
Pupil dilation as an indicator of future thinking
Authors
Mohamad El Haj
Ahmed A. Moustafa
Publication date
01-02-2021
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Published in
Neurological Sciences / Issue 2/2021
Print ISSN: 1590-1874
Electronic ISSN: 1590-3478
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-020-04533-z

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