Hamstra, Marrit (2025) The Influence of Different Arousal and Valence Levels on the Relationship Between Pupil Size and Detection Performance. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Pupils play a central role in day to day life: by altering the amount of light that enters the eye, the pupil adjusts itself to the most optimal scenario for visual perception. Previous literature has suggested that pupil constriction is associated with better visual discrimination, whereas pupil dilation has been associated with better detection performance. This study aims to examine two relationships: between average pre-stimulus pupil size and detection performance and baseline pupil size and detection performance. Additionally, the influence of arousal and valence on these two relationships is investigated. A near threshold-detection task is conducted including 1/f noise variations. Our results show no significant relationship between average pre-stimulus pupil size and detection performance and baseline pupil size and detection performance. However, we did find a significant negative association between arousal and detection performance during high noise trials. Furthermore, we also found a negative correlation between (absolute) valence and pre-stimulus pupil size. Our results suggest that relative pupil sizes differences rather than absolute pupil size differences are an important factor for detection performance. Since research on this topic is scarce, more research is necessary in order to gain a better understanding of the functioning of the pupil which might lead to further practical applications that can increase detection performance.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Supervisor name: | Ruuskanen, V.H.S. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Feb 2025 10:35 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Feb 2025 10:35 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4704 |
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