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.
> 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.
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.
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[ 0.19 ms ] story [ 35.1 ms ] threadBut as the twitter thread shows, lots of people can do that.
https://twitter.com/c_strauch/status/1428290953035538436
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.
"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!"
These sorts of quirks indicate to me that we may have much more conscious control than we assume.
I wonder if learning this skill could fix that.
Not a new thing