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Pupil dilation as an indicator of future thinking

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Abstract

Background

The pupil typically dilates in reaction to cognitive load. In this study, we, for the first time, investigated whether future thinking (i.e., the ability to generate hypothetical scenarios in the future) would result in pupil dilation.

Methods

We recorded pupil dilation of participants during two conditions: past and future thinking. In past thinking, we invited participants to retrieve past personal events, while in future thinking, we invited them to imagine an event that may occur in the future.

Results

Analysis demonstrated a larger pupil size during future than past thinking. Results also demonstrated longer retrieval time of future events compared with past ones, suggesting that future thinking perhaps requires more cognitive load than for past thinking. Interestingly, retrieval times during past and future thinking were positively correlated with pupil size.

Discussion

The finding that future thinking activates pupil dilation could be due to the fact that while both past and future thinking require retrieving information from memory, future, but not past, thinking additionally requires the ability to recombine this information into novel scenarios.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Univ Angers, Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire (LPPL—EA 4638), Nantes Université, F-44000, Nantes, France

    Mohamad El Haj

  2. Unité de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier de Tourcoing, Tourcoing, France

    Mohamad El Haj

  3. Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France

    Mohamad El Haj

  4. Faculté de Psychologie, LPPL—Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire, Université de Nantes, Chemin de la Censive du Tertre, BP 81227, 44312, Nantes Cedex 3, France

    Mohamad El Haj

  5. School of Social Sciences and Psychology & Marcs Institute for Brain and Behaviour, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia

    Ahmed A. Moustafa

  6. Department of Human Anatomy and Physiology, the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Ahmed A. Moustafa

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  1. Mohamad El Haj
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Correspondence to Mohamad El Haj.

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El Haj, M., Moustafa, A.A. Pupil dilation as an indicator of future thinking. Neurol Sci 42, 647–653 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-020-04533-z

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