The vision and perception of external reality owe much of their functionality to pupil.
To identify them, just look at the smallest part of the eye, the circle that hides in the iris and which changes its size from hour to hour.
According to science, pupils are able to become larger or smaller depending on external lighting. The more light there is in the room, the smaller and more minute the pupil appears; when the space is dimly lit, the pupil dilates.
Lately, a study dedicated to vision has shown that pupils also change size based on the number of objects that we observe.
16 different participants were shown two images containing a series of dots. In the first, the dots were separated from each other, while in the second they were connected, creating the illusion that there were fewer objects.
From the results obtained, the pupil size decreases significantly when observing the second image.
What happened?
The seam caused the number of perceived objects to decrease. The number of dots has not changed, but the way the eye observes and considers them has changed.
The size of the pupils changed in relation to the number of objects present in the scene. The eye voluntarily decided to reduce its concentration because there were fewer objects.
All this would seem to demonstrate the existence of a relationship between visual perception and numerical information.
In other words, our eye is inherently capable of capture the number of observable objects and start a “categorization”. Scientists think that this ability is closely linked to a person's spirit of survival.
In order to survive, man needs to keep the situation under control and analyze all the objects in his field of vision. When the number is reduced, the size of the pupil is also reduced.
A new skill for the pupils
According to neuroscientist Elisa Castaldi, responsible for the study, “This result shows that numerical information is intrinsically related to perception”.
Information that might seem "useless", but which proves incredibly useful for medicine.
The doctor gave the example of dyscalculia (mathematical learning dysfunction), saying that knowledge of this new ability of the pupils could help doctors identify the difficulty even in very young children.
An important change, which must be considered with due attention. The world of science continues to take small steps forward that, over time, could change people's lives.
The ability to weigh numbers comes directly from childhood, if not from birth. When babies open their eyes for the first time, they are already able to understand how many objects are within their field of vision.
The pupils dilate and shrink accordingly, becoming smaller as the number of objectives decreases.
The perception of reality changes with time and with growth, but the pupils' special ability to immediately register the number of people/things present in space does not change.
Previous research and insights
Before Dr. Elisa Castaldi's study, several others were conducted research on the pupils. Doctors have come to show that their size changes not only according to visible objects, but also according to:
- the size of the objects
- of the context in which the objects are immersed
- light conditions
- the presence of possible visual illusions involving brightness
A lot of researchers are trying to answer why the brain sends specific signals to the pupils based on external conditions. However, there is still a lot of research to be done and just as many things to discover.
Our eyes they seem to be more sensitive to the number of objects we are looking at rather than how they are spaced or arranged, which is another reaction that can be analyzed in future studies.
In the coming years, we are likely to receive new information and new details on the topic. Until then, it is best to wait and continue to inform yourself, so as to always be prepared to welcome the future.
The research was published in Nature Communications.
