Neuroscience

Pupil dilation: A window to perception

The eyes are often referred to as the "windows to the soul." In fact, there is a grain of neurobiological truth to this. An international research team from the Universities of Göttingen and Tübingen, Germany, and Baylor ...

Medical research

Pupils reveal 'aphantasia'—the absence of visual imagination

The study, led by researchers from UNSW Sydney and published in eLife, found that the pupils of people with aphantasia did not respond when asked to imagine dark and light objects, while those without aphantasia did.

Psychology & Psychiatry

How the brain helps us focus our attention

How can we shift from a state of inattentiveness to one of highest attention? The locus coeruleus, literally the "blue spot," is a tiny cluster of cells at the base of the brain. As the main source of the neurotransmitter ...

Neuroscience

More than light detectors: The magic of your eyes' pupils

The mechanisms we use to sense quantity are located in our pupils. This is the result of a study conducted by the School of Psychology of the University of Sydney, in collaboration with the Universities of Pisa and Florence ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Larger pupils? You might just have gained someone's trust

Synchrony in heart rate, skin conductance and pupil diameter plays a big role in human social interactions, such as gaining trust or being attracted toward each other. This is what Eliska Prochazkova found in several lab ...

Neuroscience

Uncomfortable sight from an ancient reflex of the eye

The eyes are for seeing, but they have other important biological functions, including automatic visual reflexes that go on without awareness. The reflexive system of the human eye also produces a conscious, visual experience, ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Eye dilation sex specific but not sexually explicit, study finds

People's eyes dilate when they are looking at people they find sexually appealing—but new research from the University of Kent suggests that their response does not depend on whether the person being viewed is naked or ...

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