Pupil- and gaze dynamics track emotion content in naturalistic speech (opens in new tab)

Cortical tracking of speech features is a well-established marker of continuous speech processing, but far less is known about listeners’ ocular responses to speech rhythm. Ocular responses are central to active sensing models in the auditory domain, where motor recruitment guides temporal speech prediction and attention allocation, potentially shaped by non-rhythmic cues, such as emotions. Here, we ask whether listeners’ pupil response and eye movements track the acoustic speech signals and ...