Rhythm in cognitive processing in the brain (RITMO)

Entrainment of the eye pupil (diameter) to music

Pupil size can be used as a proxy of the intensity of attentional processing or allocation of cognitive resources. The pupil changes spontaneously during music listening (while a person looks at a blank screen and pupil diameters are recorded continuously). We have data from about 30 people, each listening to 6 songs of different musical genres, for a total of about 180 songs and respective pupil recordings, lasting several minutes each. The goal of the study would be to extract from the songs’ waveforms rhythmical periodicities in the music. Similarly, one can extract from the pupils’ waveforms rhythmical periodicities in the pupil diameter. The question is whether the two coincide at some frequencies in the respective spectra, revealing evidence for attentional entrainment to, for example, the song’s musical pulse or beat.