Main sequence of human luminance-evoked pupil dynamics

Pupil responses are commonly used to provide insight into visual perception, autonomic control, cognition, and various brain disorders. However, making inferences from pupil data can be complicated by nonlinearities in pupil dynamics and variability within and across individuals, which challenge the assumptions of linearity or group level homogeneity required for common analysis methods. In this study, we evaluated luminance evoked pupil dynamics in young healthy adults (N=10, 5:5 M:F, ages 19-25) by identifying nonlinearities, variability, and conserved relationships across individuals to improve the ability to make inferences from pupil data. We found a nonlinear relationship between final pupil diameter and luminance, linearized by considering the logarithm of luminance. Peak diameter change and peak velocity were nonlinear functions of log-luminance for constriction but not dilation responses. Across participants, curve fit parameters characterizing pupil responses as a function of luminance were highly variable, yet there was an across-participant linear correlation between overall pupil size and pupil gain (i.e. diameter change per unit log-luminance change). In terms of within-participant trial-by-trial variability, participants showed greater variability in final pupil size compared to constriction peak diameter change as a function of log-luminance. Despite the variability in stimulus-response metrics within and across participants, we found that all participants showed a highly stereotyped “main sequence” relationship between peak diameter change and peak velocity (independent of luminance). The main sequence relationship can be used to inform models of the neural control of pupil dynamics and as an empirical analysis tool to evaluate variability and abnormalities in pupil behaviour.