| Summary: | The Five Digits Test (FDT) is a Stroop paradigm test that aims to evaluate executive functions. It is composed of
four parts, two of which are related to automatic and two of which are related to controlled processes. It is known
that pupillary diameter increases as the task’s cognitive demand increases. In the present study, we evaluated
whether the pupillary diameter could distinguish cognitive effort between automated and controlled cognitive
processing during the FDT as the task progressed. As a control task, we used a simple reading paradigm with a
similar visual aspect as the FDT. We then divided each of the four parts into two blocks in order to evaluate the
differences between the first and second half of the task. Results indicated that, compared to a control task, the
FDT required higher cognitive effort for each consecutive part. Moreover, the first half of every part of the FDT
induced dilation more than the second. The differences in pupil dilation during the first half of the four FDT
parts were statistically significant between the parts 2 and 4 (p=0.023), and between the parts 3 and 4 (p=0.006).
These results provide further evidence that cognitive effort and pupil diameter can distinguish controlled from
automatic processes.
|
|---|