Pupillary Dilations in Movement Preparation and Execution

Abstract

ABSTRACT Movement‐related pupillary responses (MRPRs) were examined during self‐triggered finger flexions to determine the time course and extent of response‐related effects on this measure of general processing demands. MRPRs to self‐triggered finger movements began about 1.5 s before the response and peaked 0.5 s post‐response for simple movements. This dilation increased in amplitude and latency with the complexity of the movement as determined by the number of flexions executed. Peak pupillary amplitude was also sensitive to the force of the movement. The data establish the very large contribution of motoric processing demands to the pupillary response both before and after the onset of the movement.