Pupillary Responses Obey Emmert's Law and Co-vary with Autistic Traits.
Chiara Tortelli, Marco Turi, David C Burr and 1 others
PMID 33089444WHAT IT FOUND
Pupil size changed with visual illusions, but this did not match what people said they saw.
Higher autistic traits linked to smaller pupil changes, not different visual reports. This is a lab finding in healthy adults, not a clinical test.
Key findings
01Pupil constriction increased when objects appeared larger due to 3D context, even though physical size was unchanged.
02Pupil responses to the illusion correlated with autistic traits, but verbal size estimates did not.
03Participants with higher autistic traits showed no significant pupil change from the illusion, unlike those with lower traits.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study involved only neurotypical adults, not individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autistic traits were measured by self-report questionnaire, not clinical diagnosis. The findings are from a controlled lab task using visual illusions, which may not translate to real-world clinical assessment. The sample size was relatively small (50 participants).
Declared interests
None declared by the authors. Funded by the European Research Council, Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca, and Università di Pisa.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret this as evidence that pupil testing can diagnose autism or that autistic people see illusions differently. The study found no difference in verbal reports between high and low trait groups, and the pupil finding was in healthy adults with varying traits, not diagnosed individuals.