Pupil dilation co-varies with memory strength of individual traces in a delayed response paired-associate task

This paper explores how pupil dilation reflects memory processing during the retrieval of paired associates. By measuring pupil response as participants retrieved items from memory, the study found that pupil dilation decreases with stronger memory, indicating that it correlates with the retrieval effort. These findings suggest that pupil dilation can serve as an online marker of memory strength, even before an overt response is given.