Pupil responses to social stimuli are associated with adaptive behaviors across the first 24 months of life

Grzadzinski, R.; Carpenter, R. S.; Rutshon, J.; Jatkar, A.; Mata, K.; Bhatt, A.; Ortiz-Juza, M. M.; Dennehey, M. R.; Gilleskie, D. B.; Ellison, J.; Pegard, N.; Rodriguez-Romaguera, J.

doi:10.1101/2025.05.30.656675

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2025.05.30.656675

Pupil responses to social stimuli are associated with adaptive behaviors across the first 24 months of life

Grzadzinski, R.·Carpenter, R. S.·Rutshon, J.·Jatkar, A.·Mata, K.·Bhatt, A.·Ortiz-Juza, M. M.·Dennehey, M. R.·Gilleskie, D. B.·Ellison, J.·Pegard, N.·Rodriguez-Romaguera, J.

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

BackgroundPupil changes in response to well-controlled stimuli can be used to understand processes that regulate attention, learning, and arousal. This study investigates whether pupil dynamics to social stimuli are associated with concurrent adaptive behavior in typically developing infants. To accomplish this, we developed and assessed pupillary responses to Stimuli for Early Social Arousal and Motivation in Infants (SESAMI). MethodsA sample of forty-six typically developing children aged six to twenty-four months were exposed to SESAMI. Infants were presented with either dynamic social faces or non-social stimuli that controlled for luminance, motion, and auditory exposure. A multi-level mixed effects model was used to fit pupillary response functions (PRFs) that measure the change in pupil size over time as the infants fixate on either a socially dynamic face or a non-social control. This model produces separate social and non-social PRFs for both the population and each individual. An average individual deviation score from the population PRF was calculated separately for social and non-social trials yielding the pupil response index (PRI). Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) were regressed on social and non-social individual PRIs while controlling for age and average fixation time. We tested whether the social PRI was a statistically significant predictor of adaptive behavior by comparing the model predicted VABS scores with observed scores. ResultsAn increase in PRI to social stimuli was significantly associated with better adaptive behaviors in typically developing children between 6 and 24 months of age. ConclusionsSESAMI combined with pupillometry and multi-level mixed effects modeling, provides a novel and scalable framework for quantifying individual differences in pupil changes in response to social stimuli relative to a population-level baseline. By demonstrating that pupil response indices during social fixations predict adaptive behaviors, we lay the foundation to test how these measures may help identify infants with intellectual and developmental disorders.

Source connections

Published article ↗

Explore related subjects

physiology Preprint

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Grzadzinski, R., Carpenter, R. S., Rutshon, J., Jatkar, A., Mata, K., Bhatt, A., Ortiz-Juza, M. M., Dennehey, M. R., Gilleskie, D. B., Ellison, J., Pegard, N., Rodriguez-Romaguera, J.. 2025-06-01. Pupil responses to social stimuli are associated with adaptive behaviors across the first 24 months of life. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.30.656675

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related preprints

bioRxiv2026

DEPP1 connects nutrient and oxygen availability to maintenance of muscle mass

Nutrients and oxygen are sensed within the muscle to control growth and disruption of either signal is sufficient to lead to muscle atrophy. While nutrient limitation is sensed via a conserved transcriptional atrophy program (commonly referred to as atrogenes) dictated via the Forkhead box O (FoxO) transcription factors, how low oxygen promotes muscle loss remains unknown. Accordingly, the downstream mechanisms that initiate muscle loss when oxygen and nutrients are limiting are only partly understood. Here, we find Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF), the master regulator of our adaptation to low oxygen, is necessary and sufficient to mediate muscle loss under hypoxia in mice. RNA sequencing in skeletal muscle isolated from starved or hypoxic mice identifies Decidual Protein Induced by Progesterone 1 (Depp1), which is induced in skeletal muscle when nutrients or oxygen is limiting via FoxO1 and HIF activation, respectively. Whole body Depp1 loss in mice reduces muscle loss under fasting and hypoxia and skeletal muscle Depp1 overexpression is sufficient to mediate muscle atrophy. Mechanistically, Depp1 localizes to the mitochondria and is necessary to control autophagy activation and mitochondrial degradation in skeletal muscle. Taken together, our studies nominate Depp1 as a new atrogene necessary for muscle loss under multiple atrophy scenarios involving FoxO and HIF.

physiology↗

bioRxiv2026

The CREB-regulated co-activators 2/3, have a role, in vivo, in osteoblastic gene expression.

Many hormones and substances acting through G-protein coupled receptors and protein kinase A (PKA) activation inhibit the salt-inducible kinases (SIKs) by phosphorylation. SIKs tonically phosphorylate CREB-regulated transcriptional coactivators (CRTC1, 2 and 3), sequestering them in the cytoplasm and, thus, preventing their translocation into the nucleus. Once in the nucleus, CRTCs bind CREB family member transcription factors and enhance their activity. We and others have shown that parathyroid hormone (PTH) activation of PKA and resultant SIK2/3 inhibition allows CRTC2/3 nuclear translocation. One of the major actions of CRTC2/3 in the osteoblast lineage is the regulation of transcription of Rankl, as well as other PTH-controlled genes. However, little is known about the role of these co-activators in the osteoblast lineage in vivo. Here, we have investigated whether there are basal effects in vivo on bone examined at 2 different ages of conditional deletion of these two co-activators in the osteoblast lineage using Col2.3-Cre. We found significant increases in body weight, length, bone mineral density, bone volume/total volume, trabecular thickness and number with decreased trabecular separation in young (2 months old) male mice, all of which dissipated by 6 months of age. Female mice showed minimal changes in the bone phenotype at either age. Nevertheless, there were gene expression changes in bones of both sexes at both ages, and in particular decreases in Rankl, Runx2 and Sost, and accompanying changes in Wnt pathway genes. These effects may explain the changes in the bone phenotype in the young male mice, but it is notable that there is a sexual dimorphism in the action of CRTC2 and CRTC3. Overall, the work supports the data from research in vitro and forms a basis for investigation of the role of these co-activators in PTH action in vivo.

physiology↗

bioRxiv2026

Cholinergic impairment in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus during experimental Alzheimer's disease

Cholinergic neurons in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMN) in the brainstem are a key source of efferent vagus nerve fibers that regulate vital functions, including heart rate and inflammation. Whether the integrity of DMN cholinergic neurons is affected during Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains unknown. Here, in female and male mice with experimental AD (5xFAD), which exhibit age-dependent memory impairment, basal forebrain cholinergic neurodegeneration, and microglial alterations, we observe a reduction in cholinergic neuron density in the DMN at 6 and 10 months of age. Furthermore, while an important physiological function of DMN cholinergic signaling, such as suppression of heart rate, is preserved in control mice upon electrical DMN stimulation, the extent of suppression diminishes with age in both female and male 5xFAD mice. In addition, while electrical DMN stimulation lowers pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in control mice subjected to endotoxemia, this anti-inflammatory effect is diminished with age in 5xFAD mice, with females showing earlier dysfunction at 6 months. These results reveal previously unrecognized age-dependent cholinergic deficits in the DMN and disrupted brain - to - periphery vagus nerve circuits in experimental AD. These findings advance our understanding of AD mechanisms and are of interest for the development of conceptually novel therapies.

physiology↗