The effect of luminance on human smooth pursuit of perifoveal and foveal targets

Abstract Two subjects tracked targets located in the perifovea (6° below the line of sight) while oculomotor performance was recorded with an infrared contact lens optical lever. A point target was either 1.85 log units above absolute foveal threshold (photopic) or 0.5 log units above absolute scotopic threshold. Transfer characteristics of smooth pursuit of sinusoidal motion (amplitude = 2.18°. frequency = 0.13–5.00 Hz) were measured. It was found that (1) eccentric smooth pursuit is easily accomplished with no practice. (2) smooth pursuit characteristics were largely uninfluenced by target luminance, (3) the phase of smooth pursuit showed greater lag with the scotopic target than with photopic target, and (4) predictive tracking occurs in the perifoveal retina. Similar results were obtained in the fovea where overall smooth pursuit gain was higher but, once again, large variations in luminance did not have systematic or large effects on smooth pursuit gain.

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