Impact of light on task-evoked pupil responses during cognitive tasks.

Campbell, I.; Beckers, E.; Sharifpour, R.; Berger, A.; Paparella, I.; Balda Aizpurua, J. F.; Koshmanova, E.; Mortazavi, N.; Sherif, S.; Vandewalle, G.

doi:10.1101/2023.04.12.536570

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2023.04.12.536570

Impact of light on task-evoked pupil responses during cognitive tasks.

Campbell, I.·Beckers, E.·Sharifpour, R.·Berger, A.·Paparella, I.·Balda Aizpurua, J. F.·Koshmanova, E.·Mortazavi, N.·Sherif, S.·Vandewalle, G.

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Light has many non-image-forming functions including modulation of pupil size and stimulation of alertness and cognition. Part of these non-image-forming effects may be mediated by the brainstem locus coeruleus. The processing of sensory inputs can be associated with a transient pupil dilation that is likely driven in part by the phasic activity of the locus coeruleus. Here, we aimed to characterise the task-evoked pupil response associated with auditory inputs under different light levels and across two cognitive tasks. We continuously monitored the pupil of 20 young healthy participants (24.05y {+/-}4.0; 14 women) while they completed an attentional and an emotional auditory task whilst exposed to repeated 30-to-40s-blocks of light interleaved with darkness periods. Blocks could either consist of monochromatic orange light [0.16 melanopic Equivalent Daylight Illuminance (EDI) lux] or blue-enriched white light of three different levels [37, 92, 190 melanopic EDI lux; 6500K]. For the analysis 15 and then 14 participants were included in the attentional and emotional tasks respectively. Generalized Linear Mixed Models showed a significant main effect of light level on the task-evoked pupil responses triggered by the attentional and emotional tasks (p[≤].0001). The impact of light was different for the target vs. non-target stimulus of the attentional task but was not different for the emotional and neutral stimulus of the emotional task. Despite a smaller sustained pupil size during brighter light blocks, a higher light level triggers a stronger task-evoked pupil response to auditory stimulation, presumably through the recruitment of the locus coeruleus.

Source connections

Published article ↗

Explore related subjects

neuroscience Preprint

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Campbell, I., Beckers, E., Sharifpour, R., Berger, A., Paparella, I., Balda Aizpurua, J. F., Koshmanova, E., Mortazavi, N., Sherif, S., Vandewalle, G.. 2023-04-12. Impact of light on task-evoked pupil responses during cognitive tasks.. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.04.12.536570

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related preprints

bioRxiv2026

The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Cell Types in Describing Neuronal Physiological Features

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) captures detailed gene expression profiles at scale, while patch-clamp recordings measure intrinsic neuronal electrophysiological properties. Modeling the relations between these two modalities remains a challenge. Here, we compare how well electrophysiological features can be predicted by traditional transcriptomic cell type classification, representations derived from a foundational model (scGPT) pretrained on large-scale scRNA-seq datasets, ion channel-coding genes, and highly variable genes. Using paired transcriptomic and electrophysiological patch-sequencing data from 495 human neurons from neurosurgical tissue, we find that cluster-level cell type representations consistently outperform highly variable gene selection, ion channel gene selection, and context-enriched scGPT embeddings. Notably, performance varies across model architectures and initializations, and the best results are obtained by combining the outputs of separate cell type and scGPT-based models. Together, these findings suggest that traditional discrete cellular classification is highly effective in predicting physiological features. For maximum performance it can be complemented by pretrained transformer models.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

A nonlinear inhibition pathway underlying cortical responses to tuned holographic optogenetic perturbations

Optogenetics enables causal manipulation of cortical activity. Perturbation responses can be counterintuitive due to network interactions, making theory essential for predicting them. Existing approaches often rely on linear approximations, which fail for many biologically relevant perturbations. Here we develop a nonlinear theory of responses to holographic perturbations in cell-type-specific recurrent networks with structured connectivity. We fit a nonlinear model to mouse V1 data, which shows cotuned-ensemble suppression: perturbing spatially clustered neurons with similar preferred orientations yields markedly stronger short-range suppression than perturbing untuned ensembles. We show that cotuned-ensemble suppression arises from a feature-tuned, nonlinear inhibition pathway implicating somatostatin-positive (SST) interneurons. The theory predicts that cotuned ensembles suppress parvalbumin-positive (PV) neurons but facilitate SST neurons, and links the degree of cotuned-ensemble suppression or facilitation to the variance of the SST response. This framework identifies mechanisms by which nonlinear inhibition sculpts cortical dynamics and establishes a predictive basis for targeted optogenetic interventions.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Proteomic signatures of APOE ε4 across human tissues and cell types in Alzheimers disease

The apolipoprotein E {varepsilon}4 (APOE {varepsilon}4) allele is the strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimers disease (AD). However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. This study included 1691 participants from the Religious Orders Study and Rush Memory and Aging Project (ROSMAP), 1226 participants from the Accelerating Medicines Partnership - Alzheimers Disease (AMP-AD) Diverse Cohorts Study, and 735 participants from the Alzheimers Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). To characterise APOE {varepsilon}4 molecular effects, we analysed proteomic data from plasma, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived astrocytes and neurons, as well as transcriptomic and proteomic data from multiple brain regions. The association of APOE {varepsilon}4 with AD neuropathology was also examined. APOE {varepsilon}4 carriers shared a plasma proteomic signature enriched for immune processes, irrespective of AD diagnosis. A machine learning classifier trained on this signature discriminated APOE {varepsilon}4 carriers from non-carriers in an independent cohort using CSF proteomics. APOE {varepsilon}4 carriage was associated with higher Braak stages and Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimers Disease (CERAD) score. However, only limited APOE {varepsilon}4-associated transcriptomic and proteomic changes were observed in bulk brain tissue, with poor cross-layer concordance. Proteomic analyses of iPSC-derived astrocytes and neurons further revealed cell-type-specific APOE {varepsilon}4-associated changes. APOE {varepsilon}4 is associated with a consistent proteomic signature across plasma and CSF. Its molecular effects in the brain differ across cell types, brain regions and molecular layers. These findings support the need for cell-type-resolved multi-omic studies to elucidate how APOE {varepsilon}4 confers AD risk.

neuroscience↗