At the right moment to see, our pupil muscles stabilize the light entering our eyes.

What is it about?

Raising expectations about future behavioral demands, known as temporal expectations, is ubiquitous in our lives. Our study revealed that, presumably to obtain clear vision, people stabilize pupil size as they approach the timing of high temporal expectation. Interestingly, pupil size stability even reflected individual differences in temporal expectation: pupil stabilized more rapidly for individuals whose temporal expectations changed drastically.

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Photo by Swapnil Potdar on Unsplash

Photo by Swapnil Potdar on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Temporal expectations play an important role as we respond to changing environments. For example, we drive a car while anticipating the need to change lanes or brake at the appropriate time based on surrounding traffic conditions. Also, even in seemingly static situations such as operating a smartphone, we may unconsciously predict a problem in the system while feeling discomfort from excessive waiting times longer than expected. Biomarkers that can estimate the temporal expectations of individuals in these situations will enable us to evaluate the attentional state of driving vehicles and comfort in human-computer interaction. Such an evaluation is a first step toward technology that enables adaptive assistance tailored to the user's cognitive state.