Detecting phasic lapses in alertness using pupillometric measures.

Small, nonreflexive pupillary changes are robust physiological indicators of cognitive activity. In the present paper, we examined whether measures of pupillary changes could be used to detect phasic lapses in alertness during a vigilance task. A polynomial curve-fitting method for quantifying parameters from single task-evoked pupillary responses (TEPRs) is described.

Cognition, blinks, eye-movements, and pupillary movements during performance of a running memory task.

Introduction: Blinks, saccades, and pupil diameter changes are studied for their application as tools to unobtrusively monitor aspects of performance.

Methods: Subjects performed a running memory task for a 60-min period. To evaluate changes in the relationship of blinks to saccades as a function of time on task, the ratio of blinks occurring with and without saccade was calculated for the second following stimulus termination plus the last 0.