2008/02/04 by Wolfgang Einhäuser, James Stout, Christof Koch +1 · 2 citations
Neuroscience · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Psychology · Medicine · #Visual perception and processing mechanisms #Neural dynamics and brain function #Retinal Development and Disorders #Pupillary response #Perception #Stimulus (psychology) #Binocular rivalry #Psychology #Pupil #Visual perception #Cognitive psychology #Pupillary reflex #Rivalry #Neuroscience #Audiology #Medicine
paper · doi:10.1073/pnas.0707727105
openalex publication_date 2008/02/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
During sustained viewing of an ambiguous stimulus, an individual's perceptual experience will generally switch between the different possible alternatives rather than stay fixed on one interpretation (perceptual rivalry). Here, we measured pupil diameter while subjects viewed different ambiguous visual and auditory stimuli. For all stimuli tested, pupil diameter increased just before the reported perceptual switch and the relative amount of dilation before this switch was a significant predictor of the subsequent duration of perceptual stability. These results could not be explained by blink or eye-movement effects, the motor response or stimulus driven changes in retinal input. Because pupil dilation reflects levels of norepinephrine (NE) released from the locus coeruleus (LC), we interpret these results as suggestive that the LC-NE complex may play the same role in perceptual selection as in behavioral decision making.