Pupil tracks statistical regularities: behavioral and neural implications

Abstract

Pupillary light reflex adjusts the amount of light reaching the retina. Recent work suggests that the brainstem pupillary light reflex pathway is controlled by the environment's internal models derived from higher-order temporal statistics. This finding has implications at the behavioral and neural levels. Pupillary changes in response to statistical regularities could be a metric constituting the precision with which the internal models are represented. These pupillary changes may aid in information processing through attentional mechanisms. One possible region that mediates descending cognitive inputs to pupil cycling is locus coeruleus. Here we propose a unified framework of locus coeruleus' role in modulating pupillary change, which successfully explains current and previous findings. The locus coeruleus could have multiple subsystems selectively (but not exclusively) driven by behavioral relevance and statistical learning to regulate pupillary change.