Saccades actively maintain perceptual continuity

People make saccades—rapid eye movements to a new fixation—approximately three times per second. This would seemingly disrupt perceptual continuity, yet our brains construct a coherent, stable view of the world from these successive fixations. There is conflicting evidence regarding the effects of saccades on perceptual continuity: some studies report that they are disruptive, with little information carryover between saccades; others report that carryover is substantial. Here we show that saccades actively contribute to perceptual continuity in humans in two different ways. When bistable stimuli are presented intermittently, saccades executed during the blank interval shorten the duration of states of ambiguous figures, indicating that saccades can erase immediately past perceptual states. On the other hand, they prolong the McCollough effect, indicating that saccades strengthen learned contingencies. Our results indicate that saccades help, rather than hinder, perceptual continuity.

[1]  M. Goldberg,et al.  Visual, presaccadic, and cognitive activation of single neurons in monkey lateral intraparietal area. , 1996, Journal of neurophysiology.

[2]  Katherine M. Armstrong,et al.  Selective gating of visual signals by microstimulation of frontal cortex , 2003, Nature.

[3]  A. Parker,et al.  Neuronal activity and its links with the perception of multi-stable figures. , 2002, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[4]  Maria Concetta Morrone,et al.  Saccadic compression of visual space is significantly influenced by retinal illumination , 2003 .

[5]  M. Goldberg,et al.  Spatial processing in the monkey frontal eye field. I. Predictive visual responses. , 1997, Journal of neurophysiology.

[6]  K. Hoffmann,et al.  Neural Mechanisms of Saccadic Suppression , 2002, Science.

[7]  David A. Leopold,et al.  Stable perception of visually ambiguous patterns , 2002, Nature Neuroscience.

[8]  Bruce Bridgeman,et al.  Failure to detect displacement of the visual world during saccadic eye movements , 1975, Vision Research.

[9]  G. Rees,et al.  Neural correlates of perceptual rivalry in the human brain. , 1998, Science.

[10]  J. Hoffman,et al.  The role of visual attention in saccadic eye movements , 1995, Perception & psychophysics.

[11]  W. Wolf,et al.  Interaction of pre- and postsaccadic patterns having the same coordinates in space , 1980, Vision Research.

[12]  D. Burr,et al.  Selective depression of motion sensitivity during saccades. , 1982, The Journal of physiology.

[13]  M. Goldberg,et al.  Spatial processing in the monkey frontal eye field. II. Memory responses. , 2001, Journal of neurophysiology.

[14]  Robert M. McPeek,et al.  Saccades require focal attention and are facilitated by a short-term memory system , 1999, Vision Research.

[15]  C. Bruce,et al.  Primate frontal eye fields. III. Maintenance of a spatially accurate saccade signal. , 1990, Journal of neurophysiology.

[16]  N. Logothetis.  Single units and conscious vision. , 1998, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[17]  M. Concetta Morrone,et al.  Apparent Position of Visual Targets during Real and Simulated Saccadic Eye Movements , 1997, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[18]  D. Burr,et al.  Selective suppression of the magnocellular visual pathway during saccadic eye movements , 1994, Nature.

[19]  C. McCollough.  Color Adaptation of Edge-Detectors in the Human Visual System , 1965, Science.

[20]  David C. Burr,et al.  Compression of visual space before saccades , 1997, Nature.

[21]  J. Schlag,et al.  Illusory localization of stimuli flashed in the dark before saccades , 1995, Vision Research.

[22]  David C. Burr,et al.  Separate visual representations for perception and action revealed by saccadic eye movements , 2001, Current Biology.

[23]  J R Duhamel,et al.  The updating of the representation of visual space in parietal cortex by intended eye movements. , 1992, Science.

[24]  David Melcher,et al.  Persistence of visual memory for scenes , 2001, Nature.

[25]  Alexander Maier,et al.  Perception of Temporally Interleaved Ambiguous Patterns , 2003, Current Biology.

[26]  L. A. N. Esq.,et al.  LXI. Observations on some remarkable optical phænomena seen in Switzerland; and on an optical phænomenon which occurs on viewing a figure of a crystal or geometrical solid , 1832 .

[27]  M. Goldberg,et al.  The Role of the Lateral Intraparietal Area of the Monkey in the Generation of Saccades and Visuospatial Attention , 2002, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[28]  Bart Krekelberg,et al.  Postsaccadic visual references generate presaccadic compression of space , 2000, Nature.

[29]  David E. Irwin,et al.  Integrating visual information from successive fixations. , 1982, Science.

[30]  M. Hayhoe,et al.  Integration of Form across Saccadic Eye Movements , 1991, Perception.

[31]  Vincent P. Ferrera,et al.  Effects of Gaze Shifts on Maintenance of Spatial Memory in Macaque Frontal Eye Field , 2003, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[32]  David R. Badcock,et al.  Coherent global motion in the absence of coherent velocity signals , 2000, Current Biology.

[33]  D. Mackay,et al.  The time course of the McCollough effect and its physiological implications. , 1974, The Journal of physiology.

[34]  L. Matin,et al.  Visual Perception of Direction for Stimuli Flashed During Voluntary Saccadic Eye Movements , 1965, Science.

[35]  T Moore,et al.  Control of eye movements and spatial attention. , 2001, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[36]  Frank Bremmer,et al.  Neural Correlates of Visual Localization and Perisaccadic Mislocalization , 2003, Neuron.

[37]  M. Grant,et al.  Decreased expression of the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor by ribozyme cleavage. , 2003, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[38]  R. Over,et al.  Color Adaptation of Spatial Frequency Detectors in the Human Visual System , 1972, Science.

[39]  M Jüttner,et al.  Lateral information transfer across saccadic eye movements , 1993, Perception & psychophysics.