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A person without abnormalities learned to change his pupil size

42 points| doener | 4 years ago |twitter.com | reply

11 comments

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[+] dusted|4 years ago|reply
I can also do this, I discovered it one day when I noticed that I could change the brightness of what I saw, and I wondered if that was purely in my head or if it actually changed my pupil, so I repeated the experiment with my wife observing it, I think we even filmed it and sent it to one of her professors who'd like to see it.

But as the twitter thread shows, lots of people can do that.

[+] zimpenfish|4 years ago|reply
> But as the twitter thread shows, lots of people can do that.

Only seen a few videos there but they all seem to have a distinct-but-not-fully opening and closing of the eyelids happening at the same time - when the eyelids close, the pupil grows; when they open, it shrinks.

Which suggests a certain amount of autonomic reaction to changing light conditions rather than controlling the pupil itself? I guess you'd have to demonstrate it without any eyelid movement to control for that.

[+] Gunax|4 years ago|reply
How about moving one eyeball? https://youtu.be/FaC2RXBss2c

These sorts of quirks indicate to me that we may have much more conscious control than we assume.

[+] casefields|4 years ago|reply
Wow that was awesome and so easy to do.
[+] chippytea|4 years ago|reply
That is very interesting. I have just been to some clinics to get examined for laser eye surgery and found that I am not a good candidate because my pupils get too big at night.

I wonder if learning this skill could fix that.

[+] Moosdijk|4 years ago|reply
Huh, I this is something like raising one eyebrow. A lot of people can do it, not everyone. I can do this, but never thought anything of it.
[+] D2man|4 years ago|reply
I also do it to relax mysef or to dig deeper in my thoughts
[+] joophro|4 years ago|reply
I can do this. Not extraordinary at all.
[+] zamadatix|4 years ago|reply
Don't beat yourself up, you being able to do this doesn't mean it's normal/expected. Also:

"Do you know anyone who can do the same? Interested in hearing about this case in more detail at a lab meeting, any thoughts/ideas – get in touch!"