The lateral hypothalamus (LH) is known to mediate different vigilance states and modulate pupil dilation through various neural populations. However, measuring subcortical neuronal activity non-invasively while assessing the brain state has remained challenging. Recently, it has been shown that the coupling between fMRI brain signals and pupil size fluctuations depends on the underlying brain state. In this work, we suggest that the synchronization of LH fMRI signals with pupil fluctuations may indicate modulation of the vigilance level of the brain.
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