ArticlePloS one2014
Chimpanzees and humans mimic pupil-size of conspecifics.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 96 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pupil-mimicry conditions trust in partners: moderation by oxytocin and group membership.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2017Trial
- Interpersonal Synchronization of Autonomic Physiology via Mere Visual Contact.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2026Article
- Article
- Pupil contagion variation with gaze, arousal, and autistic traits.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Preliminary evidence that eye appearance in parrots (Psittaciformes) co-varies with latitude and altitude.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The other-race effect of pupil contagion in infancy.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The use of gaze to study cognition: limitations, solutions, and applications to animal welfare.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Attention Towards Pupil Size in Humans and Bonobos (Affective science · 2022Article
- Conscious awareness is necessary to assess trust and mimic facial expressions, while pupils impact trust unconsciously.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Female bonobos show social swelling by synchronizing their maximum swelling and increasing bonding.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Thermal imaging reveals social monitoring during social feeding in wild chimpanzees.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Pupillometry as a measure of cognitive load in mental rotation tasks with abstract and embodied figures.Psychological research · 2022Article
- The application of noninvasive, restraint-free eye-tracking methods for use with nonhuman primates.Behavior research methods · 2021Review
- Human and Human-Interfaced AI Interactions: Modulation of Human Male Autonomic Nervous System via Pupil Mimicry.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Humans' pupillary contagion extends to cats and dogs.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2021Article
- Happy Enough to Relax? How Positive and Negative Emotions Activate Different Muscular Regions in the Back - an Explorative Study.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Face-Specific Pupil Contagion in Infants.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Measuring Collaboration Load With Pupillary Responses - Implications for the Design of Instructions in Task-Oriented HRI.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Physiological synchrony is associated with cooperative success in real-life interactions.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- A sensorimotor control framework for understanding emotional communication and regulation.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Group-living typically provides benefits to individual group members but also confers costs. To avoid incredulity and betrayal and allow trust and cooperation, individuals must understand the intentions and emotions of their group members. Humans attend to other's eyes and from gaze and pupil-size cues, infer information about the state of mind of the observed. In humans, pupil-size tends to mimic that of the observed. Here we tested whether pupil-mimicry exists in our closest relative, the chimpanzee (P. troglodytes). We conjectured that if pupil-mimicry has adaptive value, e.g. to promote swift communication of inner states and facilitate shared understanding and coordination, pupil-mimicry should emerge within but not across species. Pupillometry data was collected from human and chimpanzee subjects while they observed images of the eyes of both species with dilating/constricting pupils. Both species showed enhanced pupil-mimicry with members of their own species, with effects being strongest in humans and chimpanzee mothers. Pupil-mimicry may be deeply-rooted, but probably gained importance from the point in human evolution where the morphology of our eyes became more prominent. Humans' white sclera surrounding the iris, and the fine muscles around their eyes facilitate non-verbal communication via eye signals.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.