Pupils Can Detect Aphantasia With Joel Pearson
Eyes are the window to the soul… and Aphantasia? A new study finds pupils can detect mental imagery strength.
The phrase eyes are the window to the soul is the idea that you can understand a person’s emotions and sometimes thoughts by looking into their eyes. But what if that’s not all you could tell?
A new study conducted by a team of researchers at the University of New South Whales in Australia finds pupils can detect aphantasia. In the lab, people with and without aphantasia were asked to imagine bright and dark shapes. The pupils of those without aphantasia dilated or constricted according to whether they imagined dark or bright objects, while the aphantasic’s pupils did not.
These findings could lead to the first physiological test for aphantasia.
In this presentation and Q&A, Joel Pearson a professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of New South Wales presents this fascinating discovery of how pupil size can reveal what is – or isn’t – happening in your brain.