Pupillometry, Attention Control, and Working Memory

Historically, pupillometry has been leveraged as a tool to understand both working memory and attention control, two intricately related cognitive processes. In this chapter, I summarize some typical findings in paradigms examining working memory capacity, conflict resolution, cognitive control, and sustained attention. I also report several new analyses of previously published datasets showing how pupillometry can be used to understand both intra- and interindividual variability in attention control. These analyses revealed that (1) pupillary responses – both their magnitude and latency – reveal insights into the speed and effectiveness of attention processes and (2) both the dynamics of pretrial pupil diameter and the magnitude of stimulus-evoked pupillary responses correlate with individual differences in attention control. Finally, this chapter interprets these findings in light of locus coeruleus–norepinephrine (LC–NE) theories of attention control and working memory (Unsworth and Robison, Psychon Bull Rev 24:1282–1311, 2017a; Tsukahara and Engle, Proc Nat Acad Sci 118(46):e2110630118, 2021).