Overview
- About me
- Contact
- Miscellaneous writing
- About my research
- Scientific publications, presentations, etc.
- OpenSesame
- Editorial activities
- Grants, awards, and sponsorships
About me
Photos by Sander Martens
I'm an assistant professor at the department of experimental psychology of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. My main research interests are eye movements, pupillometry, and perception. I also maintain www.cogsci.nl and develop OpenSesame.
Find me on:
Contact
Feel free to send me an e-mail: s.mathot@cogsci.nl
I kindly ask that you post support questions (for OpenSesame and other software packages) on the forum. I do not provide technical support through e-mail.
Miscellaneous writing
Short stories (fiction)
I occasionally write short fictional stories. I don't publish these stories as such. But I do make little handmade booklets of them, which I give away, hide in book exchanges, and sell on a small scale. If you want to know more, visit https://www.suchwasnot.com/.
Popular science
I write blogs about (my) research, academic publishing, and other 'meta-scientific' topics.
About my research
Broadly speaking, my research is about eye movements and perception.
I've recently become interested in pupillometry, and particularly in the role that pupil-size changes play in how we perceive the world. Why do our pupils constrict (become smaller) when we look at something bright? And how is the pupillary light response modulated by things like attention, working memory, and eye movements? Why do our pupils dilate (become bigger) when we become aroused? And what is the link between arousal-related dilation and the light response? These are all questions that fascinate me. If you want to read more about this topic, see our recent papers on the topic, and in particular my review article in Journal of Cognition.
The video below shows the most widely known pupillary response, and the focus of much of my research: the pupillary light response. This video is based on real data of me viewing an alternating sequence of black and white displays.
To see what (or rather: one of the many things that) you can do with pupillometry, check out this video:
Which I explain in more detail here:
And another video in which I talk about (and speculate on) the relationship between pupil size and arousal:
During my PhD project at the VU University Amsterdam, I focused on visual stability: How do we construct a stable and complete representation of our environment--if indeed we do!--despite the incompleteness and instability of visual input at the level of the retina? In the video below, you see schematically depicted how the retinal image (on the left) changes as we make eye movements across a visual scene (on the right).
Scientific publications, presentations, etc.
Research in progress (pre-prints)
The pre-prints listed below have been made available for community feedback, and to share our newest findings as quickly as possible, prior to formal publication. However, these pre-prints have not yet undergone peer review and may be revised as the work progresses.
Lorente, P., Ruuskanen, V., Mathôt, S., Crespo, A., & Radl, J. (2024). Baseline pupil size does not correlate with fluid intelligence: a laboratory study with children and adults. https://hdl.handle.net/10016/43761
Chen, I. Y., Büchel, P., Karabay, A., van der Mijn, R., Mathôt, S., & Akyurek, E. G. (2023). Concealed information detection in rapid serial visual presentation with oculomotor measures. doi:10.31234/osf.io/rtyu6
Chen, I. Y., Mathôt, S., & Akyurek, E. G. (2024). Subtle gaze and pupil dynamics: detecting concealed familiar faces with serial sequential stimulus movement. doi:10.31234/osf.io/gjdx2
Karsilar, H., Mathôt, S., & van Rijn, H. (2024). Stimuli are perceived as lasting longer when there is something bright on the screen. doi:10.31234/osf.io/4ez9t
Koevoet, D., Van Zantwijk, L., Naber, M., Mathôt, S., Van der Stigchel, S., & Strauch, C. (2024). Effort drives saccade selection. doi:10.1101/2024.02.06.579052
Ruuskanen, V., Espeseth, T., Hagen, T., Mathôt, S. (2023). Baseline pupil size seems unrelated to fluid intelligence, working memory capacity, and attentional control. bioRxiv. doi:10.1101/2023.06.22.546078
Publications (peer reviewed)
Many papers are open access and can be freely downloaded from the publisher via the doi: links. For papers that are paywalled or not yet officially available, an unofficial pre-print is available via the "free pdf" links.
2024 / online first / in press
Vilotijević, A., Mathôt, S. (in press). Non-image forming vision as measured through ipRGC-mediated pupil constriction is not modulated by covert visual attention. Cerebral Cortex.
Related preprint (not identical to published manuscript)
2023
Mathôt, S., Berberyan, H., Büchel, P., Ruuskanen, V., Vilotijević, A., & Kruijne, W. (2023). Effects of pupil size as manipulated through ipRGC activation on visual processing. NeuroImage. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120420
Vilotijević, A., Mathôt, S. (2023). Functional benefits of cognitively driven pupil-size changes. WIREs Cognitive Science. doi:10.1002/wcs.1672
Vilotijević, A. & Mathôt, S. (2023). Emphasis on peripheral vision is accompanied by pupil dilation. Psychonomic Bulleting and Review. doi:10.3758/s13423-023-02283-5
Koevoet, D., Strauch, C., Van der Stigchel, S., Mathôt, S., Naber, M. (2023). Revealing visual working memory operations with pupillometry: encoding, maintenance and prioritization. WIREs Cognitive Science. doi:10.1002/wcs.1668
Sahan, M. I., Siugzdaite, R., Mathôt, S., Fias, W. (in press). Attention-based rehearsal: Eye movements reveal how visuospatial information is maintained in working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.
Dahm, S., Ort, E., Büsel, C., Sachse, P., Mathôt, S. (2023). Implementing multi-session learning experiments out of the lab: tips and tricks using OpenSesame. The Quantitative Methods for Psychology. doi:10.20982/tqmp.19.2.p156
Laeng, B., & Mathôt, S. (in press). Methodological aspects of pupillometry. In M. Papesh, & S. D. Goldinger (Eds.), Modern Pupillometry: Cognition, Neuroscience, and Practical Applications. Springer Nature.
2022
Chen, I., Karabay, A., Mathôt, S., Bowman, H., & Akyürek, E.G. (2022). Concealed identity information detection with pupillometry in rapid serial visual presentation. Psychophysiology. doi:10.1111/psyp.14155
Mathôt, S., & March, J. (2022). Conducting linguistic experiments online with OpenSesame and OSWeb. Language Learning. doi:10.1111/lang.12509
Mathôt, S., & Vilotijević, A. (2022). Methods in cognitive pupillometry: design, preprocessing, and statistical analysis. Behavior Research Methods. doi:10.3758/s13428-022-01957-7
Wardhani, I. K., Boehler, C. N., & Mathot, S. (2022). The influence of pupil responses on subjective brightness perception. Perception. doi:10.1177/03010066221094757
Wilschut, T., & Mathôt, S. (2022). Interactions between visual working memory, attention, and color categories: a pupillometry study. Journal of Cognition. doi:10.5334/joc.208
Zhou, C., Lorist, M., Mathôt, S., (2022). Categorical bias as a crucial parameter in visual working memory: The effect of memory load and retention interval. Cortex. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2022.05.007
Zhou, C., Lorist, M., & Mathôt, S. (2022). Is categorization in visual working memory a way to reduce mental effort? A pupillometry study. Cognitive Science. doi:10.1111/cogs.13194
2021
Pittarello, A., Frătescu, M., & Mathot, S. (2021). We remember the past as more rewarding than it was: effects of temptation on cheating and visual working memory. Current Psychology. doi:10.1007/s12144-021-02339-6
Wahn, B., Ruuskanen, V., Kingstone, A., & Mathot, S. (2021). Coordination effort in joint action is reflected in pupil size. Acta Psychologica. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103291
Related preprint (not identical to published manuscript)
2020
Mathôt, S. (2020). Tuning the senses: How the pupil shapes vision at the earliest stage. Annual Review of Vision Science. doi:10.1146/annurev-vision-030320-062352
Free PDF download
Brysbaert, M., Bakk, Z., Buchanan, E.M. et al. (2020). Editorial: Into a new decade. Behavior Research Methods. doi:10.3758/s13428-020-01497-y
Wardhani, I.K., Mathôt, S., Boehler, C.N., Laeng, B. (2020). Effects of nicotine on pupil size and performance during multiple-object tracking in non-nicotine users. International Journal of Psychophysiology. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.09.005
Related preprint (not identical to published manuscript)
Zhou, C., Lorist, M., & Mathôt, S. (2020). Concurrent guidance of attention by multiple working memory items: Behavioral and computational evidence. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. doi:10.3758/s13414-020-02048-5
Related preprint (not identical to published manuscript)
2019
Mathôt, S., & Ivanov, Y. (2019). The effect of pupil size and peripheral brightness on detection and discrimination performance. PeerJ, e8820. doi:10.7717/peerj.8220
Related preprint (not identical to published manuscript)
Hustá, C., Dalmaijer, E., Belopolsky, A., & Mathôt, S. (2019). The pupillary light response reflects visual working memory content. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. doi:10.1037/xhp0000689
Related preprint (not identical to published manuscript)
Frătescu, M., Van Moorselaar, D., & Mathôt, S. (2019). Can you have multiple attentional templates? Large-scale replications of Van Moorselaar, Theeuwes and Olivers (2014) and Hollingworth and Beck (2016). Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. doi:10.3758/s13414-019-01791-8
Related preprint (not identical to published manuscript)
Pittarello, A., Frătescu, M., & Mathôt, S. (2019). Visual saliency influences ethical blind spots and (dis)honesty. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. doi:10.3758/s13423-019-01638-1
Soleymani, A. Ivanov, Y., Mathôt, S., & De Jong, P. (in press). Free viewing eye tracking task to index attention bias for alcohol cues: Satisfactory reliability and criterion validity. Addictive Behaviors. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2019.106117
Hanke, M., Mathôt, S., Ort, E., Peitek, K., Stadler, J., & Wagner, A. (in press). A practical guide to functional magnetic resonnce imaging with simultaneous eye tracking for cognitive neuroimaging research. Neuromethods. doi:10.1007/7657_2019_31
2018
Mathôt, S. (2018). Pupillometry: Psychology, physiology, and function. Journal of Cognition. doi:10.5334/joc.18
Mathôt, S., Fabius, J., Heusden, E. V., & Van der Stigchel, S. (2018). Safe and sensible preprocessing and baseline correction of pupil-size data. Behavior Research Methods. doi:10.3758/s13428-017-1007-2
Mathôt, S., & Naber, M. (2018), There is no evidence that pupil mimicry is a social phenomenon. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi:10.1073/pnas.1814429115
See also the reply by Prochazkova et al. and this blog post
Derksen, M., van Alphen, J., Schaap, S., Mathôt, S., & Naber, M. (2018). Pupil mimicry is the result of brightness perception of the iris and pupil. Journal of Cognition. doi:10.5334/joc.34
Snell, J., Mathôt, S., Mirault, J., & Grainger, J. (2018). Parallel graded attention in reading: A pupillometric study. Scientific Reports. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-22138-7
Van Hooijdonk, R., Mathôt, S., Schat, E., Spencer, H., Van der Stigchel, S., & Dijkerman, H. C. (2018). Touch-induced pupil size reflects stimulus intensity, not subjective pleasantness. Experimental Brain Research. doi:10.1007/s00221-018-5404-2
2017
Mathôt, S., Grainger, J., & Strijkers, K. (2017). Pupillary responses to words that convey a sense of brightness or darkness. Psychological Science. doi:10.1177/0956797617702699
Discussed on
YouTube,
CNRS (French),
RUG (Dutch),
CQFD (Radio Suisse, French),
Radio Canada (French),
ZME Science,
Science Actualités (French), Sciences et Avenir (French), De Taalstaat (Radio 1, Dutch), Dagblad van het Noorden (Dutch)
Fabius, J.H., Mathôt, S., Schut, M.J., Nijboer,T.C.W. & Van der Stigchel, S. (2017). Focus of spatial attention during spatial working memory maintenance: Evidence from pupillary light response. Visual Cognition. doi:10.1080/13506285.2017.1311975
Ferrand, L., Méot, A., Spinelli, E., New, B., Pallier, C., Bonin, P., Dufau, S., Mathôt, S., & Grainger, J. (2017). MEGALEX: A megastudy of visual and auditory word recogntion. Behavior Research Methods. doi:10.3758/s13428-017-0943-1
Marzouki, Y., Dusaucy, V., Chanceaux, M., & Mathôt, S. (2017). The World (of Warcraft) through the eyes of an expert. PeerJ, 5, e3783. doi:10.7717/peerj.3783
Stigchel, S. V. der, & Mathôt, S. (2017). Don’t admit defeat: A new dawn for the item in visual search. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. doi:10.1017/S0140525X16000285
Comment on Hulleman & Olivers (2016)
2016
Mathôt, S., Melmi, J.-B, van der Linden, S., & Van der Stigchel, S. (2016). The mind-writing pupil: A human-computer interface based on decoding of attention through pupillometry. PLoS ONE, 11(2), e0148805. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148805
Discussed on
20 Minutes (French),
ARTE Future (German / French),
CNRS (French),
Cogsci.nl,
La Marseillaise (French),
Sublime News (Dutch),
Techno-Science.net (French),
De Telegraaf (Dutch),
Utrecht University (Dutch),
YouTube
Blom, T., Mathôt, S., Olivers, C.N.L., & Van der Stigchel, S. (2016). The pupillary light response reflects encoding, but not maintenance, in visual working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 42(11), 1716-1723. doi:10.1037/xhp0000252
Download free pdf
Pinet, S., Zielinski, C., Mathôt, S., Dufau, S., Alario, F.-X., Longcamp, M. (2016). Measuring sequences of keystrokes with jsPsych: reliability of response times and interkeystroke intervals. Behavior Research Methods. doi:10.3758/s13428-016-0776-3
Download free pdf
2015
Mathôt, S., & Van der Stigchel, S. (2015). New light on the mind’s eye: The pupillary light response as active vision. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24(5), 374–378. doi:10.1177/0963721415593725
Discussed on Psychology Today
Mathôt, S., Melmi, J.-B., & Castet, E. (2015). Intrasaccadic perception triggers pupillary constriction. PeerJ, 3(e1150), 1–16. doi:10.7717/peerj.1150
Discussed on Cogsci.nl
Mathôt, S., Siebold, A., Donk, M., & Vitu, F. (2015). Large pupils predict goal-driven eye movements. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144(3), 513-521. doi:10.1037/a0039168
Download free pdf and supplementary pdf
Discussed on Cogsci.nl
Mathôt, S., van der Linden, L., Grainger, J., & Vitu, F. (2015). The pupillary light response reflects eye-movement preparation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 41(1), 28–35. doi:10.1037/a0038653
Download free pdf
van der Linden, L., Mathôt, S., Vitu, F. (2015). The role of object affordances and center of gravity in eye movements towards isolated daily-life objects. Journal of Vision, 15(5), e8. doi:10.1167/15.5.8
2014
Mathôt, S., Dalmaijer, E., Grainger, J., & Van der Stigchel, S. (2014). The pupillary light response reflects exogenous attention and inhibition of return. Journal of Vision, 14(14), 7. doi:10.1167/14.14.7
Discussed on Cogsci.nl
Chanceaux, M., Mathôt, S., & Grainger, J. (2014). Effects of number, complexity, and familiarity of flankers on crowded letter identification. Journal of Vision, 14(6), 7. doi:10.1167/14.6.7
Dalmaijer, E., Mathôt, S., & Van der Stigchel, S. (2014). PyGaze: An open-source, cross-platform toolbox for minimal-effort programming of eyetracking experiments. Behavior Research Methods, 46(4), 913–921. doi:10.3758/s13428-013-0422-2
Download free pdf
Grainger, J., Mathôt, S., & Vitu, F. (2014). Tests of a model of multi-word reading: Effects of parafoveal flanking letters on foveal word recognition. Acta Psychologica, 146, 35-40. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2013.11.014
Download free pdf
Theeuwes, J., Mathôt, S., & Grainger, J. (2014). Object-centered orienting and IOR. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 76(8), 2249–2255. doi:10.3758/s13414-014-0718-z
2013
Mathôt, S., van der Linden, L., Grainger, J., & Vitu, F. (2013). The pupillary response to light reflects the focus of covert visual attention. PLoS ONE, 8(10), e78168. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0078168
Discussed on Cogsci.nl, Janne in Osaka
Mathôt, S., & Theeuwes, J. (2013). A reinvestigation of the reference frame of the tilt-adaptation aftereffect. Scientific Reports, 3, e1152. doi:10.1038/srep01152
Chanceaux, M., Mathôt, S., & Grainger, J. (2013). Flank to the left, flank to the right: Testing the modified receptive field hypothesis of letter-specific crowding. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(6), 774-780. doi:10.1080/20445911.2013.823436
Download free pdf
Talsma, D., White, B., Mathôt, S., Munoz, D., & Theeuwes, J. (2013). A retinotopic attentional trace after saccadic eye movements: Evidence from event-related potentials. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 25(9), 1563-1577. doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00390
Download free pdf
Theeuwes, J., Mathôt, S., Grainger, J. (2013). Exogenous object-centered attention. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. 75, 812-818. doi:10.3758/s13414-013-0459-4
Download free pdf
2012
Mathôt, S., & Theeuwes, J. (2012). It's all about the transient: Intra-saccadic onset stimuli do not capture attention. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 5(2):4, 1-12. doi:10.16910/jemr.5.2.4
Mathôt, S., Cristino, F., Gilchrist, I.D., & Theeuwes, J. (2012). A simple way to estimate similarity between pairs of eye movement sequences. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 5(1):4, 1-15. doi:10.16910/jemr.5.1.4
Mathôt, S., Schreij, D., & Theeuwes, J. (2012). OpenSesame: An open-source, graphical experiment builder for the social sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 44, 314-324. doi:10.3758/s13428-011-0168-7
2011
Mathôt, S., & Theeuwes, J. (2011). Mantra: An open method for object and movement tracking. Behavior Research Methods, 43(4), 1182-1193. doi:10.3758/s13428-011-0105-9
Mathôt, S., & Theeuwes, J. (2011). Visual attention and stability. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 366(1564), 516-527. doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0187
Download free pdf
2010
Cristino, F., Mathôt, S., Theeuwes, J., & Gilchrist, I. D. (2010). ScanMatch: A novel method for comparing fixation sequences. Behavior Research Methods, 42(3), 692-700. doi:10.3758/BRM.42.3.692
Download free pdf
Mathôt, S., Hickey, C., & Theeuwes, J. (2010). From reorienting of attention to biased competition: Evidence from hemifield effects. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 72(3), 651-657. doi:10.3758/APP.72.3.651
Download free pdf
Mathôt, S., & Theeuwes, J. (2010). Gradual remapping results in early retinotopic and late spatiotopic inhibition of return. Psychological Science, 21(12), 1793-1798. doi:10.1177/0956797610388813
Download free pdf
Mathôt, S., & Theeuwes, J. (2010). Evidence for the predictive remapping of visual attention. Experimental Brain Research, 200(1), 117-122. doi:10.1007/s00221-009-2055-3
Theeuwes, J., Mathôt, S., & Kingstone, A. (2010). Object-based eye movements: The eyes prefer to stay within the same object. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 72(3), 12–21. doi:10.3758/APP.72.3.597
Download free pdf
File drawer
Regnath, F., & Mathôt, S.. (2021). Pupil size reflects exploration and exploitation in visual search (and it's like object-based attention) bioRxiv. doi:10.1101/2021.02.05.429946
Zhou, C., Lorist, M., Mathôt, S., (2021). Are eye movements guided by working-memory templates during visual search in naturalistic environments? Memory.
Related preprint (with initial data)
Mathôt, S., Sundermann, L., & Van Rijn, H. (2019). The effect of semantic brightness on pupil size: A replication with Dutch words. bioRxiv. doi:10.1101/689265
Mathôt, S., Theeuwes, J. (2013). The Effect of Saccadic Response Time on the Reference Frame of Inhibition of Return. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.703886
Mathôt, S. (2013). A Simple Way to Reconstruct Pupil Size During Eye Blinks. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.688001
OpenSesame
I'm the lead developer of OpenSesame, an open-source graphical experiment builder for the social sciences. OpenSesame is a tool for creating psychological experiments with a minimum of fuzz. Below you can see a demonstration video:
Editorial activities
I'm currently on the editorial board of the following journals:
Grants, awards, and sponsorships
2021 Sep - 2026 Sep
Innovational Research Incentives Scheme VIDI
Tuning the senses: how cognition shapes sensation at the gate (Grant VI.Vidi.191.045, €799,981)
2016 Nov - 2019 Nov
Innovational Research Incentives Scheme VENI
The Active Pupil 2.0: A feedback loop between perception, mental state, and pupil size (Grant 016.Veni.175.078, €246,439)
2016 Dec - 2018 Dec
Collaboration grant (with Andrea Pittarello)
Grant by Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences of the University of Groningen to encourage inter-departmental collaborations (€14,400)
2015 May - 2019 May
European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCOP)
Sponsorship OpenSesame
2014 Nov - 2016 Oct
Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF
The Active Pupil: The role of pupil size in active vision (Grant #622738, €194,047)
2014 Jan - 2015 Jan
Ipskamp publishers, Enschede, The Netherlands
Sponsorship Cogsci.nl
2012 Sep - Running
SR Research, Missisauga, ON, Canada
Sponsorship OpenSesame
2016 Mar
Actions Incitatives de la Fédération 3C, Marseille, France
Rapid development of online behavioral experiments with OpenSesame (€5,000)
2015 Sep
Center for Open Science, Charlottesville, VA, United States
Incubator grant for integration between the Open Science Framework and OpenSesame ($15,000)
2015 Aug
Center for Open Science, Charlottesville, VA, United States
Planning grant for open-source behavioral research infrastructure and OSF integration ($2,000)
2014 May
Best Illusion of the Year Contest, St. Pete Beach, FL, United States
Top 10 finalist with the illusion Infinite Maze
2013 Dec
Dutch Psychonomic Society (De Nederlandse Veriniging voor Psychonomie)
Biennial award for best Dutch PhD thesis in the field of experimental psychology (€500)
2012 Oct
Tilburg University, Netherlands
Sponsorship OpenSesame
2012 Nov
Ipskamp publishers, Enschede, The Netherlands
Sponsorship printing costs PhD thesis (approx. €1000)
2012 Jan
VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Talent-budget grant (€5,500)
2009 Jan
VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Prize for best master's thesis from the faculty of psychology and education. (€450)
2008 Oct
Rovereto Attention Workshop, Trento, Italy
Award for best poster (€400)