ArticleNature communications2025
Pupil size modulation drives retinal activity in mice and shapes human perception.
Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Pupil Constriction Causes Activity in the Human Retina and Visual System.Psychophysiology · 2026Article
- Convergence of Cortical and Thalamic Origins of Free Behavior Modulation of Mouse Primary Visual Cortex.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Study of conditions to evaluate light hypersensitivity in a light-dark box using a mouse model and a mydriatic.PCN reports : psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025Article
- The central histaminergic system slows visual processing in the retina and lateral geniculate nucleus of awake mice.PLoS biology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Retinal adaptation is assisted by the pupil, with pupil contraction and dilation thought to prevent global light changes from triggering neuronal activity in the retina. However, we find that pupillary constriction from increased light, the pupillary light reflex (PLR), can drive strong responses in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in vivo in mice. The PLR drives neural activity in all RGC types, and pupil-driven activity is relayed to the visual cortex. Furthermore, the consensual PLR allows one eye to respond to luminance changes presented to the other eye, leading to a binocular response and modulation during low-amplitude luminance changes. To test if pupil-induced activity is consciously perceived, we performed psychophysics on human volunteers, finding a perceptual dimming consistent with PLR-induced responses in mice. Our findings thus uncover that pupillary dynamics can directly induce visual activity that is consciously detectable, suggesting an active role for the pupil in encoding perceived ambient luminance.
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.