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Pupillometry: The Eye as a Window Into the Mind

Examine the science of pupillometry and examine the eye as a window into the mind with this online course from the University of Oslo.

Duration

6 weeks

Weekly study

3 hours

100% online

How it works

Unlimited subscription

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Discover the applications of pupillometry research

Whilst a fairly new research method within the sciences, pupillometry has wide ranging applications within psychology, neuroscience, and beyond.

On this six-week course, you’ll explore both pupillometry and eye tracking methods in depth, before investigating some interesting and unusual applications of this far-reaching research method.

Explore eye anatomy and physiology

Examining what can be learned from measuring pupil dilations, you’ll reflect on what pupil dilation can tell us about our emotions, our mental efforts, and more.

You’ll then move on to the anatomy and physiology of the eye, delving into eye structure and the neuroscience of pupils.

With this introductory knowledge, you’ll be confident in eye control and reactions, and begin to identify some of the insights that pupillometry can deliver about the human body.

Identify methods of pupillometry and eye tracking

For over a century, eye tracking has been used to measure gaze and monitor behaviour.

You’ll discover how technology has advanced eye tracking and gaze analysis. You’ll then move on to methods in pupillometry, learning how to gather quality data and gaining an overview of baselines and statistics.

Investigate the use of pupillometry in different disciplines

Having explored both eye tracking and pupillometry in isolation, you’ll then examine multidisciplinary pupillometry research approaches and their varied applications.

You’ll discover its use in musicology, developmental psychology, and psycholinguistics, and reflect on the ethical and legal implications of such research.

By the end of this course, you’ll have an overview of pupillometry and eye tracking. You’ll have the skills to plan your own research, considering the technical, ethical, and managerial aspects of gathering pupillometry data.

Week 1
Welcome to the course
- Introduction
  Learn about the course and its learning outcomes.
- Pupillometry
  Learn about the pupil and the historical backdrop of pupillometry.
- The pupil and mental effort
  Learn about how pupillometry can give valuable insight into the human mind and mental effort.
- Reflection
  Reflect on your own interests in pupillometry.
Week 2
Biology, anatomy and physiology of the eye
- Eye anatomy
  Learn about the anatomy of the human eye
- Eye control
  Learn about the neural control of pupil and eye movements.
- The neuroscience of pupils
  Learn about the neuroscience of pupils.
- Reflection
  Summarize your thoughts on this week's course activities.
Week 3
The eye-tracking method
- Introduction
  Learn about the basics of the eye-tracking method.
- Calibration
  Learn the basics of how to calibrate stationary and mobile eye-tracking systems.
- Gaze analysis
  Learn about gaze analysis and visualization.
- Reflection
  Reflect on some of the challenges you may face when working with eye tracking and pupillometry.
Week 4
The pupillometry method
- Introduction
  Start reflecting on how to design your pupillometry experiment.
- Pre-processing
  How can you use pre-processing to improve data quality.
- Baselines
  Learn why baselines are important.
- Statistics
  Learn the basics of statistical analysis.
- Reflection
  Reflect on some of the challenges you may face when using the pupillometry method.
Week 5
Multidisciplinary pupillometry research
- Introduction
  Learn about how the researchers at RITMO and MultiLing use pupillometry in their different fields.
- Pupillometry of musicians
  Learn about how music researchers use pupillometry in real-world concert settings.
- Pupillometry of music listeners
  Learn how researchers use pupillometry to study musical experiences.
- Pupillometry in developmental psychology
  Learn about pupillometry in developmental psychology.
- Pupillometry in psycholinguistics
  Learn about pupillometry in psycholinguistics.
- Reflection
  Reflect on the various fields that use the pupillometry method.
Week 6
Data management and ethical aspects
- Introduction
  Learn about how to get started with project planning and the principles of open research.
- Data management
  Learn about the different steps involved in managing research data.
- Ethics
  Understand the importance of considering ethical and legal concerns when planning a project.
- Intellectual property rights
  Learn about how to consider copyright and apply the right license to your data.
- Reflection
  Reflect on how you should consider data management, ethics, and copyright in your own project.