scholarly journals Eye movements shape visual learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (14) ◽  
pp. 8203-8211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pooya Laamerad ◽  
Daniel Guitton ◽  
Christopher C. Pack
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Visual Learning ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Spatial Integration ◽  
Perceptual Stability ◽  
Extensive Training ◽  
Visual Tasks ◽  
Saccade Task

Most people easily learn to recognize new faces and places, and with more extensive practice they can become experts at visual tasks as complex as radiological diagnosis and action video games. Such perceptual plasticity has been thoroughly studied in the context of training paradigms that require constant fixation. In contrast, when observers learn under more natural conditions, they make frequent saccadic eye movements. Here we show that such eye movements can play an important role in visual learning. Observers performed a task in which they executed a saccade while discriminating the motion of a cued visual stimulus. Additional stimuli, presented simultaneously with the cued one, permitted an assessment of the perceptual integration of information across visual space. Consistent with previous results on perisaccadic remapping [M. Szinte, D. Jonikaitis, M. Rolfs, P. Cavanagh, H. Deubel,J. Neurophysiol.116, 1592–1602 (2016)], most observers preferentially integrated information from locations representing the presaccadic and postsaccadic retinal positions of the cue. With extensive training on the saccade task, these observers gradually acquired the ability to perform similar motion integration without making eye movements. Importantly, the newly acquired pattern of spatial integration was determined by the metrics of the saccades made during training. These results suggest that oculomotor influences on visual processing, long thought to subserve the function of perceptual stability, also play a role in visual plasticity.

Short Report: Scrutinization, Spatial Attention, and the Spatial Programming of Saccadic Eye Movements

1992 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 633-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Findlay ◽  
Zoi Kapoula
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Short Report ◽  
Similar Material ◽  
Visual Tasks ◽  
Corrective Saccade ◽  
Spatial Programming

Results are presented from an experiment in which subjects’ eye movements were recorded while they carried out two visual tasks with similar material. One task was chosen to require close visual scrutiny; the second was less visually demanding. The oculomotor behaviour in the two tasks differed in three ways. (1) When scrutinizing, there was a reduction in the area of visual space over which stimulation influences saccadic eye movements. (2) When moving their eyes to targets requiring scrutiny, subjects were more likely to make a corrective saccade. (3) The duration of fixations on targets requiring scrutiny was increased. The results are discussed in relation to current theories of visual attention and the control of saccadic eye movements.

scholarly journals Comparison of Cortico-Cortical and Cortico-Collicular Signals for the Generation of Saccadic Eye Movements

2002 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 845-858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Ferraina ◽  
Martin Paré ◽  
Robert H. Wurtz
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Visual Response ◽  
Antidromic Activation ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Saccade Task

Many neurons in the frontal eye field (FEF) and lateral intraparietal (LIP) areas of cerebral cortex are active during the visual-motor events preceding the initiation of saccadic eye movements: they respond to visual targets, increase their activity before saccades, and maintain their activity during intervening delay periods. Previous experiments have shown that the output neurons from both LIP and FEF convey the full range of these activities to the superior colliculus (SC) in the brain stem. These areas of cerebral cortex also have strong interconnections, but what signals they convey remains unknown. To determine what these cortico-cortical signals are, we identified the LIP neurons that project to FEF by antidromic activation, and we studied their activity during a delayed-saccade task. We then compared these cortico-cortical signals to those sent subcortically by also identifying the LIP neurons that project to the intermediate layers of the SC. Of 329 FEF projection neurons and 120 SC projection neurons, none were co-activated by both FEF and SC stimulation. FEF projection neurons were encountered more superficially in LIP than SC projection neurons, which is consistent with the anatomical projection of many cortical layer III neurons to other cortical areas and of layer V neurons to subcortical structures. The estimated conduction velocities of FEF projection neurons (16.7 m/s) were significantly slower that those of SC projection neurons (21.7 m/s), indicating that FEF projection neurons have smaller axons. We identified three main differences in the discharge properties of FEF and SC projection neurons: only 44% of the FEF projection neurons changed their activity during the delayed-saccade task compared with 69% of the SC projection neurons; only 17% of the task-related FEF projection neurons showed saccadic activity, whereas 42% of the SC projection neurons showed such increases; 78% of the FEF projection neurons had a visual response but no saccadic activity, whereas only 55% of the SC projection neurons had similar activity. The FEF and SC projection neurons had three similarities: both had visual, delay, and saccadic activity, both had stronger delay and saccadic activity with visually guided than with memory-guided saccades, and both had broadly tuned responses for disparity stimuli, suggesting that their visual receptive fields have a three-dimensional configuration. These observations indicate that the activity carried between parietal and frontal cortical areas conveys a spectrum of signals but that the preponderance of activity conveyed might be more closely related to earlier visual processing than to the later saccadic stages that are directed to the SC.

scholarly journals The role of action intentionality and effector in the subjective expansion of temporal duration after saccadic eye movements

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Melcher ◽  
Devpriya Kumar ◽  
Narayanan Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Intentional Binding ◽  
Opposite Pattern ◽  
Motor Action ◽  
Saccade Onset ◽  
Backward Shift ◽  
The Moment

Abstract Visual perception is based on periods of stable fixation separated by saccadic eye movements. Although naive perception seems stable (in space) and continuous (in time), laboratory studies have demonstrated that events presented around the time of saccades are misperceived spatially and temporally. Saccadic chronostasis, the “stopped clock illusion”, represents one such temporal distortion in which the movement of the clock hand after the saccade is perceived as lasting longer than usual. Multiple explanations for chronostasis have been proposed including action-backdating, temporal binding of the action towards the moment of its effect (“intentional binding”) and post-saccadic temporal dilation. The current study aimed to resolve this debate by using different types of action (keypress vs saccade) and varying the intentionality of the action. We measured both perceived onset of the motor action and perceived onset of an auditory tone presented at different delays after the keypress/saccade. The results showed intentional binding for the keypress action, with perceived motor onset shifted forwards in time and the time of the tone shifted backwards. Saccades resulted in the opposite pattern, showing temporal expansion rather than compression, especially with cued saccades. The temporal illusion was modulated by intentionality of the movement. Our findings suggest that saccadic chronostasis is not solely dependent on a backward shift in perceived saccade onset, but instead reflects a temporal dilation. This percept of an effectively “longer” period at the beginning of a new fixation may reflect the pattern of suppressed, and then enhanced, visual processing around the time of saccades.

scholarly journals The role of fixation disengagement in the parallel programming of sequences of saccades

2019 ◽  
Vol 237 (11) ◽  
pp. 3033-3045
Author(s):  
Eugene McSorley ◽  
Iain D. Gilchrist ◽  
Rachel McCloy
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Parallel Programming ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Gap Effect ◽  
Task Completion ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Trial Duration ◽  
Visual Tasks

Abstract One of the core mechanisms involved in the control of saccade responses to selected target stimuli is the disengagement from the current fixation location, so that the next saccade can be executed. To carry out everyday visual tasks, we make multiple eye movements that can be programmed in parallel. However, the role of disengagement in the parallel programming of saccades has not been examined. It is well established that the need for disengagement slows down saccadic response time. This may be important in allowing the system to program accurate eye movements and have a role to play in the control of multiple eye movements but as yet this remains untested. Here, we report two experiments that seek to examine whether fixation disengagement reduces saccade latencies when the task completion demands multiple saccade responses. A saccade contingent paradigm was employed and participants were asked to execute saccadic eye movements to a series of seven targets while manipulating when these targets were shown. This both promotes fixation disengagement and controls the extent that parallel programming can occur. We found that trial duration decreased as more targets were made available prior to fixation: this was a result both of a reduction in the number of saccades being executed and in their saccade latencies. This supports the view that even when fixation disengagement is not required, parallel programming of multiple sequential saccadic eye movements is still present. By comparison with previous published data, we demonstrate a substantial speeded of response times in these condition (“a gap effect”) and that parallel programming is attenuated in these conditions.

scholarly journals Contrast sensitivity, V1 neural activity, and natural vision

2017 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 492-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Niemeyer ◽  
Michael A. Paradiso
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Contrast Sensitivity ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Brain Area ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Sensitivity ◽  
Natural Image ◽  
Spatial Frequencies ◽  
Natural Vision ◽  
Common Laboratory

Contrast sensitivity is fundamental to natural visual processing and an important tool for characterizing both visual function and clinical disorders. We simultaneously measured contrast sensitivity and neural contrast response functions and compared measurements in common laboratory conditions with naturalistic conditions. In typical experiments, a subject holds fixation and a stimulus is flashed on, whereas in natural vision, saccades bring stimuli into view. Motivated by our previous V1 findings, we tested the hypothesis that perceptual contrast sensitivity is lower in natural vision and that this effect is associated with corresponding changes in V1 activity. We found that contrast sensitivity and V1 activity are correlated and that the relationship is similar in laboratory and naturalistic paradigms. However, in the more natural situation, contrast sensitivity is reduced up to 25% compared with that in a standard fixation paradigm, particularly at lower spatial frequencies, and this effect correlates with significant reductions in V1 responses. Our data suggest that these reductions in natural vision result from fast adaptation on one fixation that lowers the response on a subsequent fixation. This is the first demonstration of rapid, natural-image adaptation that carries across saccades, a process that appears to constantly influence visual sensitivity in natural vision. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Visual sensitivity and activity in brain area V1 were studied in a paradigm that included saccadic eye movements and natural visual input. V1 responses and contrast sensitivity were significantly reduced compared with results in common laboratory paradigms. The parallel neural and perceptual effects of eye movements and stimulus complexity appear to be due to a form of rapid adaptation that carries across saccades.

Functional properties of monkey caudate neurons. I. Activities related to saccadic eye movements

1989 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 780-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Hikosaka ◽  
M. Sakamoto ◽  
S. Usui
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Caudate Nucleus ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Spontaneous Discharge ◽  
Lateral Part ◽  
Visually Guided ◽  
Saccade Task ◽  
Time Gap

1. We recorded single cell activities in the caudate nucleus of the monkeys trained to perform a series of visuomotor tasks. In the first part of this paper, we summarize the types and locations of neurons in the monkey caudate nucleus. In the second part, we report the characteristics of neurons related to saccadic eye movements. 2. Neurons were classified into two types in terms of spontaneous discharge pattern. A majority of the neurons (2,287/2,559, 89%) had very low-frequency discharges (mostly less than 1 Hz). The rest (n = 272) showed irregular-tonic discharges (3-8 Hz) with broad spikes. 3. Of 2,559 neurons tested, 867 showed spike activity related to some aspects of the tasks; 502 neurons showed discharges in response to environmental changes outside, not in relation to, the tasks. None of the neurons responsive in or outside the tasks belonged to the irregular-tonic type. 4. The task-related activities were classified as: Saccade-related, Visual, Auditory, Cognitive, Fixation-related, and Reward-related. The activities detected outside the tasks were classified into: Visual, Auditory, Movement-related, Reward-related, and Other. Few neurons had both task-related and task-unrelated activities. 5. The locations of recorded neurons were determined using a coordinate system based on the anterior and posterior commissures. Task-related neurons were clustered longitudinally in the central part of the caudate. Neurons responsive outside the tasks were more widely distributed; specifically, auditory neurons were in the medial part, whereas movement-related neurons were in the lateral part. The irregular-tonic neurons were dispersed all over the caudate. 6. The monkey was trained to fixate on a spot of light on the screen and, when the spot moved, to follow it by making a saccade. A visually guided saccade occurred when the spot moved to another location without a time gap (saccade task). A memory-guided saccade occurred when the spot first disappeared and after a time gap reappeared at a fixed location (saccade with gap task). By delivering a cue stimulus while the monkey was fixating, a memory-guided saccade was elicited to a randomly chosen location (delayed saccade task).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

scholarly journals Expansion of Visual Space During Optokinetic Afternystagmus (OKAN)

2008 ◽  
Vol 99 (5) ◽  
pp. 2470-2478 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Kaminiarz ◽  
Bart Krekelberg ◽  
Frank Bremmer
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Eye Position ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Position Information ◽  
Fast Phase ◽  
Optokinetic Afternystagmus ◽  
Perceptual Stability ◽  
Voluntary Eye Movements ◽  
The Brain

The mechanisms underlying visual perceptual stability are usually investigated using voluntary eye movements. In such studies, errors in perceptual stability during saccades and pursuit are commonly interpreted as mismatches between actual eye position and eye-position signals in the brain. The generality of this interpretation could in principle be tested by investigating spatial localization during reflexive eye movements whose kinematics are very similar to those of voluntary eye movements. Accordingly, in this study, we determined mislocalization of flashed visual targets during optokinetic afternystagmus (OKAN). These eye movements are quite unique in that they occur in complete darkness and are generated by subcortical control mechanisms. We found that during horizontal OKAN slow phases, subjects mislocalize targets away from the fovea in the horizontal direction. This corresponds to a perceived expansion of visual space and is unlike mislocalization found for any other voluntary or reflexive eye movement. Around the OKAN fast phases, we found a bias in the direction of the fast phase prior to its onset and opposite to the fast-phase direction thereafter. Such a biphasic modulation has also been reported in the temporal vicinity of saccades and during optokinetic nystagmus (OKN). A direct comparison, however, showed that the modulation during OKAN was much larger and occurred earlier relative to fast-phase onset than during OKN. A simple mismatch between the current eye position and the eye-position signal in the brain is unlikely to explain such disparate results across similar eye movements. Instead, these data support the view that mislocalization arises from errors in eye-centered position information.

Neuronal death of the cancellation theory?

1994 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 274-275
Author(s):  
Claude Prablanc
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Clinical Observation ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Analytic Solutions ◽  
Visual Stability ◽  
Perceptual Stability ◽  
Stable Representation ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Brain

The question of how the brain can construct a stable representation of the external world despite eye movements is a very old one. If there have been some wrong statements of problems (such as the inverted retinal image), other statements are less naive and have led to analytic solutions possibly adopted by the brain to counteract the spurious effects of eye movements. Following the MacKay (1973) objections to the analytic view of perceptual stability, Bridgeman et al. claim that the idea that signals canceling the effects of saccadic eye movements are needed is also a misconception, as is the claim that stability and position encoding are two distinct problems. It must be remembered, however, that what made the theory of “cancellation” formulated by von Holst and Mittelstaedt (1950) so appealing was the clinical observation of perceptual instability following ocular paralysis. Following the concept of corollary discharge, the theory of efference copy had the advantage of simultaneously solving three problems: the stability of the visual world during the saccade, the same visual stability across saccades, and the visual constancy problem of allowing the subject to know where an object in space is.

scholarly journals Retinally-generated saccadic suppression of a locust looming-detector neuron: investigations using a robot locust

2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger D. Santer ◽  
Richard Stafford ◽  
F. Claire Rind
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Initial Response ◽  
Saccadic Suppression ◽  
Real Motion ◽  
Early Visual Processing ◽  
Inhibitory Mechanisms ◽  
Model Response ◽  
Detector Model

A fundamental task performed by many visual systems is to distinguish apparent motion caused by eye movements from real motion occurring within the environment. During saccadic eye movements, this task is achieved by inhibitory signals of central and retinal origin that suppress the output of motion-detecting neurons. To investigate the retinally-generated component of this suppression, we used a computational model of a locust looming-detecting pathway that experiences saccadic suppression. This model received input from the camera of a mobile robot that performed simple saccade-like movements, allowing the model's response to simplified real stimuli to be tested. Retinally-generated saccadic suppression resulted from two inhibitory mechanisms within the looming-detector's input architecture. One mechanism fed inhibition forward through the network, inhibiting the looming-detector's initial response to movement. The second spread inhibition laterally within the network, suppressing the looming-detector's maintained response to movement. These mechanisms prevent a loomingdetector model response to whole-field visual stimuli. In the locust, this mechanism of saccadic suppression may operate in addition to centrally-generated suppression. Because lateral inhibition is a common feature of early visual processing in many organisms, we discuss whether the mechanism of retinally-generated saccadic suppression found in the locust looming-detector model may also operate in these species.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document