Illusory localization of stimuli flashed in the dark before saccades

A photic stimulus flashed just before a saccade in the dark tends to be mislocalized in the direction of the saccade. This mislocalization is not only perceptual; it is also expressed by errors of ocular targeting. A particular situation arises if the point of light is flashed twice at the same place, the second time, just before a saccade. The point of light may appear at two different places even though neither the site of its retinal image nor the direction of gaze change between the flashes. Experiments were run on five human subjects, head fixed in the dark, with flashes repeated at the site of the saccade goal or at the initial point of fixation. In both cases, the test stimulus was mislocalized. However, its apparent displacement never produced the perception of a streak. Streaks were reported only when there was an actual stimulus movement on the retina (e.g. by flashing the stimulus during the saccade). Mislocalization did not occur if the two flashes were not separated by a dark interval. This implies that, as long as a steady stimulus remains continually visible, there is no updating of the internal representation of eye position assumed to be used for stimulus localization.

[1]  G Sperling,et al.  Comparison of perception in the moving and stationary eye. , 1990, Reviews of oculomotor research.

[2]  P. Bach-y-Rita,et al.  Basic Mechanisms of Ocular Motility and Their Clinical Implications , 1976 .

[3]  P Dassonville,et al.  Oculomotor localization relies on a damped representation of saccadic eye displacement in human and nonhuman primates , 1992, Visual Neuroscience.

[4]  F. Campbell,et al.  Saccadic omission: Why we do not see a grey-out during a saccadic eye movement , 1978, Vision Research.

[5]  H. Honda.  The time courses of visual mislocalization and of extraretinal eye position signals at the time of vertical saccades , 1991, Vision Research.

[6]  Ronald M. Hansen,et al.  Accuracy of spatial localizations near the time of saccadic eye movements , 1985, Vision Research.

[7]  N. Bischof,et al.  [Investigations and considerations of directional perception during voluntary saccadic eye movements]. , 1968, Psychologische Forschung.

[8]  H. Honda.  Perceptual localization of visual stimuli flashed during saccades , 1989, Perception & psychophysics.

[9]  P. Merton,et al.  The accuracy of directing the eyes and the hand in the dark , 1961, The Journal of physiology.

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

[11]  S. Mateeff,et al.  The Role of the Adjacency between Background Cues and Objects in Visual Localization during Ocular Pursuit , 1989, Perception.

[12]  P. E. Hallett,et al.  Saccadic eye movements to flashed targets , 1976, Vision Research.

[13]  Paul Dassonville,et al.  The use of egocentric and exocentric location cues in saccadic programming , 1995, Vision Research.

[14]  N. Bischof,et al.  Untersuchungen und Überlegungen zur Richtungswahrnehmung bei willkürlichen sakkadischen Augenbewegungen , 1968 .

[15]  J. S. Monahan.  Extraretinal feedback and visual localization , 1972 .

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

[17]  L Matin,et al.  Visual perception of direction and voluntary saccadic eye movements. , 1972, Bibliotheca ophthalmologica : supplementa ad ophthalmologica.

[18]  P. E. Hallett,et al.  Saccadic eye movements towards stimuli triggered by prior saccades , 1976, Vision Research.

[19]  D. Kennard,et al.  Brief conceptual (nonreal) events during eye movement. , 1971, Biological psychiatry.

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

[21]  S. Mateeff.  Saccadic eye movements and localization of visual stimuli , 1978, Perception & psychophysics.

[22]  Frank Holly.  Saccadic presentation of a moving target , 1975, Vision Research.

[23]  Joel M. Miller,et al.  Information used by the perceptual and oculomotor systems regarding the amplitude of saccadic and pursuit eye movements , 1980, Vision Research.