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Calignano G, Girardi P, Altoè G. First steps into the pupillometry multiverse of developmental science. Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:3346-3365. [PMID: 37442879 PMCID: PMC11133157 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02172-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/14/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023]
Abstract
Pupillometry has been widely implemented to investigate cognitive functioning since infancy. Like most psychophysiological and behavioral measures, it implies hierarchical levels of arbitrariness in preprocessing before statistical data analysis. By means of an illustrative example, we checked the robustness of the results of a familiarization procedure that compared the impact of audiovisual and visual stimuli in 12-month-olds. We adopted a multiverse approach to pupillometry data analysis to explore the role of (1) the preprocessing phase, that is, handling of extreme values, selection of the areas of interest, management of blinks, baseline correction, participant inclusion/exclusion and (2) the modeling structure, that is, the incorporation of smoothers, fixed and random effects structure, in guiding the parameter estimation. The multiverse of analyses shows how the preprocessing steps influenced the regression results, and when visual stimuli plausibly predicted an increase of resource allocation compared with audiovisual stimuli. Importantly, smoothing time in statistical models increased the plausibility of the results compared to those nested models that do not weigh the impact of time. Finally, we share theoretical and methodological tools to move the first steps into (rather than being afraid of) the inherent uncertainty of infant pupillometry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Calignano
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
| | - Paolo Girardi
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
- Department of Environmental Sciences Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University, Venice, Italy
| | - Gianmarco Altoè
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
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2
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Gunther KE, Fu X, MacNeill LA, Jones M, Ermanni B, Pérez-Edgar K. Now it's your turn!: Eye blink rate in a Jenga task modulated by interaction of task wait times, effortful control, and internalizing behaviors. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0294888. [PMID: 38457390 PMCID: PMC10923458 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2022] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 03/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Dopamine is a versatile neurotransmitter with implications in many domains, including anxiety and effortful control. Where high levels of effortful control are often regarded as adaptive, other work suggests that high levels of effortful control may be a risk factor for anxiety. Dopamine signaling may be key in understanding these relations. Eye blink rate is a non-invasive proxy metric of midbrain dopamine activity. However, much work with eye blink rate has been constrained to screen-based tasks which lack in ecological validity. We tested whether changes in eye blink rate during a naturalistic effortful control task differ as a function of parent-reported effortful control and internalizing behaviors. Children played a Jenga-like game with an experimenter, but for each trial the experimenter took an increasingly long time to take their turn. Blinks-per-second were computed during each wait period. Multilevel modeling examined the relation between duration of wait period, effortful control, and internalizing behaviors on eye blink rate. We found a significant 3-way interaction between effortful control, internalizing behaviors, and duration of the wait period. Probing this interaction revealed that for children with low reported internalizing behaviors (-1 SD) and high reported effortful control (+1 SD), eye blink rate significantly decreased as they waited longer to take their turn. These findings index task-related changes in midbrain dopamine activity in relation to naturalistic task demands, and that these changes may vary as a function of individual differences in effortful control and internalizing behaviors. We discuss possible top-down mechanisms that may underlie these differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelley E. Gunther
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Xiaoxue Fu
- Department of Psychology, The University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, United States of America
| | - Leigha A. MacNeill
- Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States of America
| | - Morgan Jones
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States of America
| | - Briana Ermanni
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States of America
| | - Koraly Pérez-Edgar
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, United States of America
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Stebbins HE, Jacobs ME, Hatton KT, Kaila EN, Rhoades MM. Spontaneous eye blink rate mediates the relationship between sleepiness and impulsivity to negative stimuli. Biol Psychol 2021; 165:108191. [PMID: 34530069 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Revised: 09/09/2021] [Accepted: 09/10/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated that sleep deprivation results in a negativity bias, especially in the context of impaired response inhibition. In the present study we investigated spontaneous eye blink rate (EBR), a correlate of dopamine function, as a mediator of the relationship between subjective sleepiness and impulsivity toward negative stimuli on a Go/NoGo task. Participants rated their sleepiness on a number of measures including the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) and subscales of the Chronic Sleep Reduction Questionnaire (CSRQ). The findings revealed that EBR mediated the relationship between sleepiness as measured by the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) and commission errors on negatively valanced stimuli. These findings suggest that reduced inhibition in responding to negative stimuli can be found as a function of subjective sleepiness and that changes in dopamine function may be one contributing factor explaining this relationship.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hilary E Stebbins
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Mary Washington, USA.
| | - Megan E Jacobs
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Mary Washington, USA
| | | | - Erin N Kaila
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Mary Washington, USA
| | - Mollie M Rhoades
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Mary Washington, USA
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Intra-subject consistency of spontaneous eye blink rate in young women across the menstrual cycle. Sci Rep 2020; 10:15666. [PMID: 32973291 PMCID: PMC7519086 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-72749-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2020] [Accepted: 09/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The spontaneous eye blink rate (EBR) has been linked to different cognitive processes and neurobiological factors. It has also been proposed as a putative index for striatal dopaminergic function. While estradiol is well-known to increase dopamine levels through multiple mechanisms, no study up to date has investigated whether the EBR changes across the menstrual cycle. This question is imperative however, as women have sometimes been excluded from studies using the EBR due to potential effects of their hormonal profile. Fifty-four women were tested for spontaneous EBR at rest in three different phases of their menstrual cycle: during menses (low progesterone and estradiol), in the pre-ovulatory phase (when estradiol levels peak and progesterone is still low), and during the luteal phase (high progesterone and estradiol). No significant differences were observed across the menstrual cycle and Bayes factors show strong support for the null hypothesis. Instead, we observed high intra-individual consistency of the EBR in our female sample. Accordingly, we strongly encourage including female participants in EBR studies, regardless of their cycle phase.
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Tummeltshammer K, Feldman ECH, Amso D. Using pupil dilation, eye-blink rate, and the value of mother to investigate reward learning mechanisms in infancy. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2018; 36:100608. [PMID: 30581124 PMCID: PMC6698145 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2018.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2018] [Revised: 10/29/2018] [Accepted: 12/11/2018] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The brain is adapted to learn from interactions with the environment that predict or enable the procurement of rewards (Schultz, 2010). For infants, the main caregiver (often the mother) is most associated with primary biological rewards such as food and warmth, as well as the most likely provider of emotional and social rewards such as comfort and responsiveness. In this study we capitalize on the reward value of mother to examine reward learning mechanisms in infancy using multiple eye-tracking measures. Converging lines of research have demonstrated links between reward-related striatal dopamine activity and measurable changes in spontaneous eye-blink rate (EBR) and pupil dilation (Eckstein et al., 2017). We presented 7-month-old infants with video stimuli that parametrically increased in social-emotional value (male stranger, female stranger, mother) or in visual attention value (static image, slowed silent cartoon, dynamic cartoon). After establishing infants’ baseline responses to these stimuli, we paired the videos with arbitrary shape cues in an associative learning task. Infants showed superior learning from their own mother’s video and a heightened anticipatory arousal response to the mother-associated cue following learning. Both learning measures were predicted by infants’ baseline EBR to their mother’s video, providing the first evidence of reward learning and transfer in human infants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen Tummeltshammer
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic & Psychological, Brown University Sciences, Box 1821, 02912, Providence, RI, United States.
| | - Estée C H Feldman
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic & Psychological, Brown University Sciences, Box 1821, 02912, Providence, RI, United States
| | - Dima Amso
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic & Psychological, Brown University Sciences, Box 1821, 02912, Providence, RI, United States
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Eckstein MK, Guerra-Carrillo B, Miller Singley AT, Bunge SA. Beyond eye gaze: What else can eyetracking reveal about cognition and cognitive development? Dev Cogn Neurosci 2017; 25:69-91. [PMID: 27908561 PMCID: PMC6987826 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2016.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 239] [Impact Index Per Article: 34.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2016] [Revised: 10/26/2016] [Accepted: 11/07/2016] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
This review provides an introduction to two eyetracking measures that can be used to study cognitive development and plasticity: pupil dilation and spontaneous blink rate. We begin by outlining the rich history of gaze analysis, which can reveal the current focus of attention as well as cognitive strategies. We then turn to the two lesser-utilized ocular measures. Pupil dilation is modulated by the brain's locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system, which controls physiological arousal and attention, and has been used as a measure of subjective task difficulty, mental effort, and neural gain. Spontaneous eyeblink rate correlates with levels of dopamine in the central nervous system, and can reveal processes underlying learning and goal-directed behavior. Taken together, gaze, pupil dilation, and blink rate are three non-invasive and complementary measures of cognition with high temporal resolution and well-understood neural foundations. Here we review the neural foundations of pupil dilation and blink rate, provide examples of their usage, describe analytic methods and methodological considerations, and discuss their potential for research on learning, cognitive development, and plasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria K Eckstein
- Department of Psychology, University of California at Berkeley, United States
| | | | | | - Silvia A Bunge
- Department of Psychology, University of California at Berkeley, United States; Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California at Berkeley, United States.
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Bacher LF, Retz S, Lindon C, Bell MA. Intraindividual and Interindividual Differences in Spontaneous Eye Blinking: Relationships to Working Memory Performance and Frontal EEG Asymmetry. INFANCY 2017; 22:150-170. [PMID: 28286427 PMCID: PMC5343288 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The rate and timing of spontaneous eye blinking (SB) may be used to explore mechanisms of cognitive activity in infancy. In particular, SB rate is believed to reflect some dimensions of dopamine function; therefore, we hypothesized that SB rate would relate to working memory performance and to frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry. Forty, 10-mo-old infants completed an A-not-B task while SB and EEG were measured throughout. We found that SB rate varied across phases of the task, variability in SB rate was positively related to working memory performance, and frontal EEG asymmetry was related to individual differences in the rate of SB. Results provide indirect, but convergent support for the hypothesis that SB rate reflects dopamine function early in human development. As such, these results have implications for understanding the tonic and phasic effects of dopamine on cognitive activity early in human development.
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Zhang T, Zhang Q, Wang C, Chen A. The developmental relationship between central dopaminergic level and response inhibition from late childhood to young adulthood. Int J Psychophysiol 2017; 116:53-59. [PMID: 28219681 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2017.02.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2016] [Revised: 02/13/2017] [Accepted: 02/15/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Dopamine (DA) is known to modulate response inhibition (RI). In contrast to the abundant adult studies, only few developmental studies have focused on this topic. Moreover, the mechanism underlying the modulation of RI by the DA system from childhood to adulthood remains unclear. We aimed to assess whether the relationship between DA and RI during late childhood and young adulthood is similar. Accordingly, DA function was measured using the spontaneous eye blink rate (EBR), whereas RI ability was tested using the Go/Nogo task. Experiment 1 included 149 adults (age range, 18-25years) who completed the EBR test and the Go/Nogo task; the results showed that higher EBR was associated with lower commission error in the Nogo trials. Experiment 2 included 45 children (age range, 10-12years) and 37 adults (age range, 18-19years) who completed the EBR test and Go/Nogo tasks (similar to experiment 1); in both the child and adult groups, higher EBR was related to better RI ability. As EBR is closely related to central DA function, these findings suggest that DA plays a similar role in the processing of RI in late childhood and young adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ting Zhang
- School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
| | - Qin Zhang
- School of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, China
| | - Cuicui Wang
- State Key Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Antao Chen
- School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
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Spontaneous eye blink rate as predictor of dopamine-related cognitive function-A review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2016; 71:58-82. [PMID: 27555290 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.08.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 147] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2016] [Revised: 07/29/2016] [Accepted: 08/16/2016] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
An extensive body of research suggests the spontaneous eye blink rate (EBR) is a non-invasive indirect marker of central dopamine (DA) function, with higher EBR predicting higher DA function. In the present review we provide a comprehensive overview of this literature. We broadly divide the available research in studies that aim to disentangle the dopaminergic underpinnings of EBR, investigate its utility in diagnosis of DA-related disorders and responsivity to drug treatment, and, lastly, investigate EBR as predictor of individual differences in DA-related cognitive performance. We conclude (i) EBR can reflect both DA receptor subtype D1 and D2 activity, although baseline EBR might be most strongly related to the latter, (ii) EBR can predict hypo- and hyperdopaminergic activity as well as normalization of this activity following treatment, and (iii) EBR can reliably predict individual differences in performance on many cognitive tasks, in particular those related to reward-driven behavior and cognitive flexibility. In sum, this review establishes EBR as a useful predictor of DA in a wide variety of contexts.
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Descroix E, Charavel M, Świątkowski W, Graff C. Spontaneous eye-blinking rate from pre-term to six-months. COGENT PSYCHOLOGY 2015. [DOI: 10.1080/23311908.2015.1091062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Emmanuel Descroix
- Université Pierre Mendès France, Grenoble Alpes University, Grenoble, France
- CNRS UMR5105, Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, Grenoble, France
- Psychology Department, Centre de Biologie du Comportement, 1251, avenue centrale, BP 47X, 38400 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
| | - Marie Charavel
- Université Pierre Mendès France, Grenoble Alpes University, Grenoble, France
- Laboratoire Inter-universitaire de Psychologie LIP/PC2S EA4105, Université Pierre Mendès France, Grenoble Alpes University, Grenoble, France
| | | | - Christian Graff
- Université Pierre Mendès France, Grenoble Alpes University, Grenoble, France
- CNRS UMR5105, Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, Grenoble, France
- Psychology Department, Centre de Biologie du Comportement, 1251, avenue centrale, BP 47X, 38400 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
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Ramsey MA, Gentzler AL. An upward spiral: Bidirectional associations between positive affect and positive aspects of close relationships across the life span. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2015.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
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