Several papers by Eckhard Hess from the 1960s and 1970s report that the pupils dilate or constrict according to the interest value, arousing content, or mental demands of visual stimuli. However, Hess mostly used small sample sizes and undocumented luminance control. In a first experiment (N = 182) and a second preregistered experiment (N = 147), we replicated five studies of Hess using modern equipment. Our experiments (1) did not support the hypothesis of gender differences in pupil diameter change with respect to baseline (PC) when viewing stimuli of different interest value, (2) showed that solving more difficult multiplications yields a larger PC in the seconds before providing an answer and a larger maximum PC, but a smaller PC at a fixed time after the onset of the multiplication, (3) did not support the hypothesis that participants' PC mimics the pupil diameter in a pair of schematic eyes but not in single-eyed or three-eyed stimuli, (4) did not support the hypothesis of gender differences in PC when watching a video of a male trying to escape a mob, and (5) supported the hypothesis that arousing words yield a higher PC than non-arousing words. Although we did not observe consistent gender differences in PC, supplementary analyses showed gender differences in eye movements towards erogenous zones. Furthermore, PC strongly correlated with the luminance of the locations where participants looked. Overall, our replications confirm Hess' findings that pupils dilate in response to mental demands and stimuli of an arousing nature. Hess' hypotheses regarding pupil mimicry and gender differences in pupil dilation did not replicate.

埃克哈德·赫斯 (Eckhard Hess) 于 1960 年代和 1970 年代的几篇论文报告说，瞳孔会根据视觉刺激的兴趣值、唤起内容或心理需求而扩张或收缩。然而，Hess 主要使用小样本和未记录的亮度控制。在第一个实验 ( N  = 182) 和第二个预注册实验 ( N = 147），我们使用现代设备复制了五项赫斯研究。我们的实验 (1) 不支持在查看不同兴趣值的刺激时瞳孔直径变化的性别差异相对于基线 (PC) 的假设，(2) 表明解决更困难的乘法会在提供之前的几秒钟内产生更大的 PC一个答案和一个更大的最大 PC，但在乘法开始后的固定时间一个更小的 PC，(3) 不支持参与者的 PC 模仿一双示意性眼睛中的瞳孔直径而不是单眼直径的假设 -眼睛或三眼刺激，(4) 不支持在观看男性试图逃离暴徒的视频时 PC 中性别差异的假设，并且 (5) 支持以下假设：唤起词产生的 PC 高于非激起的话。虽然我们没有观察到 PC 中一致的性别差异，但补充分析显示，眼球运动在性感区域时存在性别差异。此外，PC 与参与者注视的位置的亮度密切相关。总的来说，我们的复制证实了赫斯的发现，即瞳孔会随着精神需求和唤醒性刺激而扩张。赫斯关于瞳孔模仿和瞳孔扩张的性别差异的假设没有重复。研究结果表明，学生会因精神需求和具有唤醒性的刺激而扩张。赫斯关于瞳孔模仿和瞳孔扩张的性别差异的假设没有重复。研究结果表明，学生会因精神需求和具有唤醒性的刺激而扩张。赫斯关于瞳孔模仿和瞳孔扩张的性别差异的假设没有重复。