ArticleThe journal of physiological sciences : JPS2022
Pupil-linked arousal with very light exercise: pattern of pupil dilation during graded exercise.
Article in The journal of physiological sciences : JPS, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Look into my eyes: What can eye-based measures tell us about the relationship between physical activity and cognitive performance?Journal of sport and health science · 2023Pooled it
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation during short-term motor practice drives cortical plasticity without behavioural improvement.The Journal of physiology · 2026Trial
- The relationship between circadian type and physical activity as predictors of cognitive performance during simulated nightshifts: A randomised controlled trial.Chronobiology international · 2025Trial
- Improvement of mnemonic discrimination with acute light exercise is mediated by pupil-linked arousal in healthy older adults.Neurobiology of aging · 2024Trial
- Article
- The Effect of Integrated Aerobic and Cognitive Training (Activ4Brain) on Cognition and Neurophysiology in Older Adults: Protocol for a Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Cerebrovascular and cognitive responses to bilateral simultaneous versus unilateral alternating quadriceps electrical muscle stimulation in healthy young men.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- Physiological Signatures of Emotional Processing via Pupil Diameter, Galvanic Skin Response, and Gaze Behavior: A Pilot Study.Journal of eye movement research · 2026Article
- Acute physiological and pupillary responses during power snatch and clean & jerk training sessions in elite female weightlifters.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Human accommodative visuomotor function is driven by contrast through ON and OFF pathways and is enhanced in myopia.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Fidgeting Increases Pupil Diameter During Auditory Processing in Young Healthy Adults.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Resting-state blink rate does not increase following very-light-intensity exercise, but individual variation predicts executive function enhancement levels.Journal of physiological anthropology · 2025Article
- Pupil Dynamics Predict Exercise Brain Stimulation: An Overview of Exercise Pupillometry.Advances in neurobiology · 2025Review
- Light-exercise-induced dopaminergic and noradrenergic stimulation in the dorsal hippocampus: Using a rat physiological exercise model.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2024Article
- Evaluating the effectiveness of quantitative pupillometry in assessing dynamic aerobic training intensity.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Resistance exercising on unstable surface leads to Pupil Dilation.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2024Article
- Move the night way: how can physical activity facilitate adaptation to shift work?Communications biology · 2024Review
- Pupil Dynamics, Salivary Alpha-Amylase, and Prefrontal Haemodynamics in Response to Very Light Exercise.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2024Article
- Pupil dynamics during very light exercise predict benefits to prefrontal cognition.NeuroImage · 2023Article
- Combat Sports as a Model for Measuring the Effects of Repeated Head Impacts on Autonomic Brain Function: A Brief Report of Pilot Data.Vision (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Although it has been hypothesized that moderate to vigorous exercise immediately modulates cognition via ascending arousal system activation, such activation during very-light to light exercise has remained uncertain. Here, we aimed to uncover the exact exercise intensity necessary for ascending arousal system activation using pupillometry. The pupil diameter, psychological arousal, and ventilation during graded exercise of 26 young males were analyzed based on %[Formula: see text]. Pupils dilated with very-light exercise compared to rest, stabilized, and then drastically increased again with moderate exercise and above. Pupil dilation with very-light exercise was positively correlated with increases in psychological arousal. Thus, we have shown that there are two phases of pupil dilation during graded exercise: one with very-light exercise coinciding with psychological arousal response, and the other with moderate exercise or above similar to the ventilation increase pattern. This unique pupil dilation pattern provides physiological evidence of ascending arousal system activation with very-light exercise.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.