Coordination of smooth pursuit and saccades

Smooth pursuit and saccades are two components of tracking eye movements. Their coordination has usually been studied by investigating latencies of pursuit onset in response to a moving target appearing simultaneously with the disappearance of the stationary fixation target. The general finding from such studies has been that latencies of saccades and pursuit are different and reflect independent processes. We discuss several limitations of the used targets. In this paper, we study latencies of saccades and smooth pursuit in response to a moving target that overlaps in time with a pursued moving target. We find that saccades and pursuit changes are synchronized. Furthermore, pursuit changes are made fast. Directional changes occur almost entirely within the accompanying saccade. To explain the results we hypothesize a two-stage mechanism for the coordinated generation of saccades and pursuit.

[1]  Chris Rorden,et al.  Exogenous Orienting of Attention Depends upon the Ability to Execute Eye Movements , 2004, Current Biology.

[2]  R. Carpenter,et al.  “Express” smooth pursuit , 1995, Vision Research.

[3]  R. Gellman,et al.  Motion processing for saccadic eye movements in humans , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[4]  T Vieville,et al.  Use of target velocity in saccadic programming. , 1989, Brain, behavior and evolution.

[5]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  Orienting of attention and eye movements , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[6]  R. Kanai,et al.  Inhibition of saccade initiation by preceding smooth pursuit , 2003, Experimental Brain Research.

[7]  F. A. Miles,et al.  Target Selection for Pursuit and Saccadic Eye Movements in Humans , 1999, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[8]  Gintautas Daunys,et al.  Gap effects on saccade and vergence latency , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[9]  S de Brouwer,et al.  Role of retinal slip in the prediction of target motion during smooth and saccadic pursuit. , 2001, Journal of neurophysiology.

[10]  R. Leigh,et al.  The neurology of eye movements , 2006 .

[11]  F. A. Miles,et al.  Decreases in the Latency of Smooth Pursuit and Saccadic Eye Movements Produced by the “Gap Paradigm” in the Monkey , 1996, Vision Research.

[12]  R H Carpenter,et al.  Co-variability of smooth and saccadic latencies in oculomotor pursuit. , 1994, Ophthalmic research.

[13]  Richard J Krauzlis,et al.  Shared Response Preparation for Pursuit and Saccadic Eye Movements , 2003, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[14]  田中真樹.  Latency of Saccades during Smooth Pursuit Eye Movement in Man: Directional asymmetries(ヒト滑動性眼球運動の最中の視覚誘導性サッカードの潜時変化) , 1998 .

[15]  Eileen Kowler.  The role of visual and cognitive processes in the control of eye movement. , 1990, Reviews of oculomotor research.

[16]  B Fischer,et al.  The preparation of visually guided saccades. , 1987, Reviews of physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology.

[17]  M Missal,et al.  Common inhibitory mechanism for saccades and smooth-pursuit eye movements. , 2002, Journal of neurophysiology.

[18]  Eileen Kowler.  Eye movements and their role in visual and cognitive processes. , 1990, Reviews of oculomotor research.

[19]  A. Berthoz,et al.  The control of slow orienting eye movements by tectoreticulospinal neurons in the cat: behavior, discharge patterns and underlying connections , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[20]  R. Krauzlis.  Recasting the smooth pursuit eye movement system. , 2004, Journal of neurophysiology.

[21]  I..  THE ATTENTION SYSTEM OF THE HUMAN BRAIN , 2002 .

[22]  M. Missal,et al.  Quantitative analysis of catch-up saccades during sustained pursuit. , 2002, Journal of neurophysiology.

[23]  H. Collewijn,et al.  Binocular co‐ordination of human horizontal saccadic eye movements. , 1988, The Journal of physiology.

[24]  Justin L. Gardner,et al.  Linked Target Selection for Saccadic and Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements , 2001, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[25]  H. Collewijn,et al.  Binocular co‐ordination of human vertical saccadic eye movements. , 1988, The Journal of physiology.

[26]  S. Lisberger,et al.  Initial tracking conditions modulate the gain of visuo-motor transmission for smooth pursuit eye movements in monkeys , 1994, Visual Neuroscience.

[27]  L E Mays,et al.  Signal transformations required for the generation of saccadic eye movements. , 1990, Annual review of neuroscience.

[28]  E. J. Morris,et al.  Different responses to small visual errors during initiation and maintenance of smooth-pursuit eye movements in monkeys. , 1987, Journal of neurophysiology.

[29]  E. J. Morris,et al.  Visual motion processing and sensory-motor integration for smooth pursuit eye movements. , 1987, Annual review of neuroscience.

[30]  D. A. Suzuki,et al.  The role of the posterior vermis of monkey cerebellum in smooth-pursuit eye movement control. I. Eye and head movement-related activity. , 1988, Journal of neurophysiology.

[31]  Richard J Krauzlis,et al.  Primacy of spatial information in guiding target selection for pursuit and saccades. , 2002, Journal of vision.

[32]  F A Miles,et al.  Release of fixation for pursuit and saccades in humans: evidence for shared inputs acting on different neural substrates. , 1996, Journal of neurophysiology.

[33]  M. Saslow.  Effects of components of displacement-step stimuli upon latency for saccadic eye movement. , 1967, Journal of the Optical Society of America.

[34]  F A Miles,et al.  Initiation of saccades during fixation or pursuit: evidence in humans for a single mechanism. , 1996, Journal of neurophysiology.

[35]  E. Keller,et al.  Velocity prediction in corrective saccades during smooth-pursuit eye movements in monkey , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[36]  K C Engel,et al.  Oculomotor tracking in two dimensions. , 1999, Journal of neurophysiology.

[37]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  Reorienting attention across the horizontal and vertical meridians: Evidence in favor of a premotor theory of attention , 1987, Neuropsychologia.

[38]  Stephen G. Lisberger,et al.  Serial linkage of target selection for orienting and tracking eye movements , 2002, Nature Neuroscience.

[39]  F A Miles,et al.  Role of the oculomotor vermis in generating pursuit and saccades: effects of microstimulation. , 1998, Journal of neurophysiology.

[40]  S G Lisberger,et al.  Effect of changing feedback delay on spontaneous oscillations in smooth pursuit eye movements of monkeys. , 1992, Journal of neurophysiology.

[41]  Vision Research , 1961, Nature.

[42]  M. Missal,et al.  Smooth eye movements evoked by electrical stimulation of the cat's superior colliculus , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[43]  M. Biscaldi,et al.  The initiation of smooth pursuit eye movements and saccades in normal subjects and in “express-saccade makers” , 2002, Experimental Brain Research.

[44]  R J Krauzlis,et al.  Discharge properties of neurons in the rostral superior colliculus of the monkey during smooth-pursuit eye movements. , 2000, Journal of neurophysiology.

[45]  M Missal,et al.  Activity of mesencephalic vertical burst neurons during saccades and smooth pursuit. , 2000, Journal of neurophysiology.

[46]  D. Robinson.  The mechanics of human smooth pursuit eye movement. , 1965, The Journal of physiology.