IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nathum/v8y2024i1d10.1038_s41562-023-01729-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Self-regulating arousal via pupil-based biofeedback

Author

Listed:
  • Sarah Nadine Meissner

    (ETH Zurich)

  • Marc Bächinger

    (ETH Zurich)

  • Sanne Kikkert

    (ETH Zurich
    University and ETH Zurich
    University of Zurich)

  • Jenny Imhof

    (ETH Zurich
    University and ETH Zurich)

  • Silvia Missura

    (ETH Zurich)

  • Manuel Carro Dominguez

    (ETH Zurich
    University and ETH Zurich)

  • Nicole Wenderoth

    (ETH Zurich
    University and ETH Zurich
    Future Health Technologies, Singapore-ETH Centre, Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE))

Abstract

The brain’s arousal state is controlled by several neuromodulatory nuclei known to substantially influence cognition and mental well-being. Here we investigate whether human participants can gain volitional control of their arousal state using a pupil-based biofeedback approach. Our approach inverts a mechanism suggested by previous literature that links activity of the locus coeruleus, one of the key regulators of central arousal and pupil dynamics. We show that pupil-based biofeedback enables participants to acquire volitional control of pupil size. Applying pupil self-regulation systematically modulates activity of the locus coeruleus and other brainstem structures involved in arousal control. Furthermore, it modulates cardiovascular measures such as heart rate, and behavioural and psychophysiological responses during an oddball task. We provide evidence that pupil-based biofeedback makes the brain’s arousal system accessible to volitional control, a finding that has tremendous potential for translation to behavioural and clinical applications across various domains, including stress-related and anxiety disorders.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Nadine Meissner & Marc Bächinger & Sanne Kikkert & Jenny Imhof & Silvia Missura & Manuel Carro Dominguez & Nicole Wenderoth, 2024. "Self-regulating arousal via pupil-based biofeedback," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 43-62, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:8:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41562-023-01729-z
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01729-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01729-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41562-023-01729-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jacob Reimer & Matthew J McGinley & Yang Liu & Charles Rodenkirch & Qi Wang & David A McCormick & Andreas S Tolias, 2016. "Pupil fluctuations track rapid changes in adrenergic and cholinergic activity in cortex," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, December.
    2. Ruud L van den Brink & Peter R Murphy & Sander Nieuwenhuis, 2016. "Pupil Diameter Tracks Lapses of Attention," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(10), pages 1-16, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Russell A Cohen Hoffing & Nina Lauharatanahirun & Daniel E Forster & Javier O Garcia & Jean M Vettel & Steven M Thurman, 2020. "Dissociable mappings of tonic and phasic pupillary features onto cognitive processes involved in mental arithmetic," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-14, March.
    2. Florent Meyniel, 2020. "Brain dynamics for confidence-weighted learning," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(6), pages 1-27, June.
    3. Peter Vincent & Thomas Parr & David Benrimoh & Karl J Friston, 2019. "With an eye on uncertainty: Modelling pupillary responses to environmental volatility," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-22, July.
    4. Joseph W. MacInnes & Roopali Bhatnagar, 2017. "Where Does Attention Go When Facilitation is Absent?," HSE Working papers WP BRP 85/PSY/2017, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    5. Maxim A. Ulanov & Yury Y. Shtyrov & Tatiana A. Stroganova, 2017. "Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation as a Tool to Induce Language Recovery in Patients with Post-Stroke Aphasia: An Overview of Studies," HSE Working papers WP BRP 86/PSY/2017, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    6. Péter Pajkossy & Mihály Racsmány, 2019. "How the size of the to-be-learned material influences the encoding and later retrieval of associative memories: A pupillometric assessment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(12), pages 1-20, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:8:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41562-023-01729-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.