Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Retinal adaptation is assisted by the pupil, with pupil contraction and dilation thought to prevent global light changes from triggering neuronal activity in the retina. However, we find that pupillary constriction from increased light, the pupillary light reflex (PLR), can drive strong responses in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in vivo in mice. The PLR drives neural activity in all RGC types, and pupil-driven activity is relayed to the visual cortex. Furthermore, the consensual PLR allows one eye to respond to luminance changes presented to the other eye, leading to a binocular response and modulation during low-amplitude luminance changes. To test if pupil-induced activity is consciously perceived, we performed psychophysics on human volunteers, finding a perceptual dimming consistent with PLR-induced responses in mice. Our findings thus uncover that pupillary dynamics can directly induce visual activity that is consciously detectable, suggesting an active role for the pupil in encoding perceived ambient luminance.
Source: Nature Communications
Authors: Tjasa Lapanja, Pietro Micheli, Andrés González-Guerra, Oleksandr Radomskyi, Gioia De Franceschi, Anna Muraveva, Alexander Attinger, Chiara Nina Roth, Matteo Tripodi, Tom Boissonnet, Marina Sabbadini, Josephine Jüttner, Petri Ala-Laurila, Georg Keller, Gabriel Peinado Allina, Hiroki Asari, Santiago B. Rompani
Institutions: Heidelberg University, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Sapienza University of Rome, VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research, KU Leuven, Friedrich Miescher Institute, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel, University of Helsinki, Aalto University, University of Basel
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,990
OpenAlex ID: W4413054978