Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

A Computational Model of Pupil Dilation

Johansson, Birger LU orcid and Balkenius, Christian LU orcid (2018) In Connection Science 30(1). p.5-19
Abstract
We present a system-level connectionist model of pupil control that includes brain regions be- lieved to influence the size of the pupil. These include parts of the sympathetic and parasym- pathetic nervous system together with the hypothalamus, amygdala, locus coeruleus, and the cerebellum. Computer simulations show that the model is able to reproduce a number of important aspects of how the pupil reacts to different stimuli: (1) It reproduces the char- acteristic shape and latency of the light-reflex. (2) It elicits pupil dilation as a response to novel stimuli. (3) It produces pupil dilation when shown emotionally charged stimuli, and can be trained to respond to initially neutral stimuli through classical conditioning. (4) The model... (More)
We present a system-level connectionist model of pupil control that includes brain regions be- lieved to influence the size of the pupil. These include parts of the sympathetic and parasym- pathetic nervous system together with the hypothalamus, amygdala, locus coeruleus, and the cerebellum. Computer simulations show that the model is able to reproduce a number of important aspects of how the pupil reacts to different stimuli: (1) It reproduces the char- acteristic shape and latency of the light-reflex. (2) It elicits pupil dilation as a response to novel stimuli. (3) It produces pupil dilation when shown emotionally charged stimuli, and can be trained to respond to initially neutral stimuli through classical conditioning. (4) The model can learn to expect light changes for particular stimuli, such as images of the sun, and produces a ‘light-responses’ to such stimuli even when there are no change in light intensity. (5) It also reproduces the fear-inhibited light reflex effect where reactions to light increase is weaker after presentation of a conditioned stimulus that predicts punishment. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Light reflex, pupil control, computational model, system-level brain model
in
Connection Science
volume
30
issue
1
pages
5 - 19
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:85009822192
ISSN
0954-0091
DOI
10.1080/09540091.2016.1271401
project
Modelling Cognitive Development in Robots
Ikaros: An infrastructure for system level modelling of the brain
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
251e7620-6e5a-49d4-a03c-ab9b5744f4b8
date added to LUP
2016-11-08 21:30:19
date last changed
2022-03-08 22:05:17
@article{251e7620-6e5a-49d4-a03c-ab9b5744f4b8,
  abstract     = {{We present a system-level connectionist model of pupil control that includes brain regions be- lieved to influence the size of the pupil. These include parts of the sympathetic and parasym- pathetic nervous system together with the hypothalamus, amygdala, locus coeruleus, and the cerebellum. Computer simulations show that the model is able to reproduce a number of important aspects of how the pupil reacts to different stimuli: (1) It reproduces the char- acteristic shape and latency of the light-reflex. (2) It elicits pupil dilation as a response to novel stimuli. (3) It produces pupil dilation when shown emotionally charged stimuli, and can be trained to respond to initially neutral stimuli through classical conditioning. (4) The model can learn to expect light changes for particular stimuli, such as images of the sun, and produces a ‘light-responses’ to such stimuli even when there are no change in light intensity. (5) It also reproduces the fear-inhibited light reflex effect where reactions to light increase is weaker after presentation of a conditioned stimulus that predicts punishment.}},
  author       = {{Johansson, Birger and Balkenius, Christian}},
  issn         = {{0954-0091}},
  keywords     = {{Light reflex; pupil control; computational model; system-level brain model}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{5--19}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Connection Science}},
  title        = {{A Computational Model of Pupil Dilation}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540091.2016.1271401}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/09540091.2016.1271401}},
  volume       = {{30}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}