ArticleCerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)2023
Brightness illusions evoke pupil constriction preceded by a primary visual cortex response in rats.
Article in Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Aberrant prefrontal activity and arousal level correlate with action initiation and response vigor in rats.iScience · 2026Article
- Pupillary responses to the glare illusion in normal pressure hydrocephalus: insights into network dysfunction and neurodegenerative comorbidities.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026Article
- Eye metrics often reflect visual conscious awareness, conscious content, and neural processing in cerebral blindness.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Pupil adjustments to illusory perceptions of the light intensity of object surfaces.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- Illusory light drives pupil responses in primates.Journal of vision · 2024Article
- Brightness illusions drive a neuronal response in the primary visual cortex under top-down modulation.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Assessing perceptual chromatic equiluminance using a reflexive pupillary response.Scientific reports · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The mind affects the body via central nervous system (CNS) control of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). In humans, one striking illustration of the "mind-body" connection is that illusions, subjectively perceived as bright, drive pupil constriction. The CNS network driving this pupil response is unknown and requires an animal model for investigation. However, the pupil response to this illusion has long been thought to occur only in humans. Here, we report that the same brightness illusion that evokes pupil constriction in humans also does so in rats. We surveyed the role of most of rat cortex in this "mind-body" connection by recording cortex-wide EEG. These recordings revealed that, compared to a luminance-matched control stimulus, the illusion of brightness for a specific stimulus color and size, evoked a larger response in primary visual cortex (V1) and not in secondary visual, parietal, or frontal cortex. The response preceded pupil constriction suggesting a potential causal role of V1 on the pupil. Our results provide evidence that this "mind-body" connection is not confined to humans and that V1 may be part of a mammalian CNS network for bodily reactions to illusions.
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