Anomalous pupillary responses to M-cone onsets are linked to ${\rm L}{:}{\rm M}$L:M ratio

Abstract

M-cone stimulation induces a pupil constriction to stimulus offset, whereas, with L cones, the pupil responds conventionally with a constriction to onset. To test the possibility that this paradox is linked to the L : M ratio, we measured the strength of the effect by injecting a variable amount of positive or negative luminance contamination on either side of M-cone isolation and identifying a balance point at which the pupil responded equally to onset and offset. Nineteen individuals were recruited. In observers with low L : M ratio, the paradoxical effect was weak. There was a significant relationship ( r 2 = 0.561 ) between the balance point and L : M ratio. The effect is likely to be linked to strong inhibitory signals associated with cone-opponent pathways.