Fixational eye movements and perception

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2015.12.001 0042-6989/Published by Elsevier Ltd. Visual perception is a fundamentally active process. In humans and other foveated species, many functions, including acuity, are not uniform across the visual field, but deteriorate with increasing distance from the foveola, the tiny rod-free region of the retina where cones are most densely packed. This strategy offers clear evolutionary advantages, since it enables monitoring of a large extent of visual space while keeping computational resources limited. However, it also implies the establishment of a very tight coupling between perception and action: eye movements are required to sequentially inspect regions of interest with the high-acuity foveola. Once an object is imaged on the foveola another class of ocular movements, termed fixational eye movements, are used to assist in analyzing the visual image in important and interesting ways. The goal of this Special Issue is to highlight the significance and value of fixational eye movements to visual analysis. In this editorial, we start by briefly introducing the topic of fixational eye movements, and then provide an overview of the articles that make up this issue.

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