Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-p566r Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T04:08:05.027Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Suppression of motion during saccades

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2011

David C. Burr
Affiliation:
Istituto di Neurofisiologia del CNR, Pisa, Italy, dave@neuro.in.pi.cnr.it

Abstract

Saccadic eye movements create (at least) two related but distinct problems for the visual system: they cause rapid image motion and a displacement of the retinal image. Although it is often assumed that the motion is too fast to be resolved, this is certainly not the case for low-spatial-frequency images. Recent experiments have suggested that the reason we are unaware of the motion during saccades is because motion channels are selectively suppressed, possibly by suppression of the magno-cellular (but not the parvocellular) pathway. This suppression may explain why there is no sensation of motion during saccades, but it leaves open the problem of perceiving a stable world despite continual image displacements.

Type
Coninuing Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bischof, N. & Kramer, E. (1968) Untersuchungen und Ueberlegungen zur Richtungswahmehmung bei willkuerlichen sakkadischen Augenbewegungen. Psychologisch Forschung 32: 185218. [BD]Google Scholar
Bridgeman, B. & Macknik, S. (1995) Saccadic suppression relies on luminance information. Psychologische Forschung 58: 163168. [BB]Google Scholar
Bridgeman, B. & Stark, L. (1991) Ocular proprioception and efference copy in registering visual direction. Vision Research 31: 19031913. [WAH]Google Scholar
Bridgeman, B., van der Heijden, A. H. C. & Velichkovsky, B. M. (1994) A theory of visual stability across saccadic eye movements. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 17: 247292. [BB. DCB, WAH]Google Scholar
Burr, D. C., Morrone, M. C., & Ross, J. (1994) Selective suppression of the magnocellular visual pathway during saccadic eye movements. Nature 371: 511513. [BB, DCB]Google Scholar
Burr, D. C. & Ross, J. (1982) Contrast sensitivity at high velocities. Vision Research 23: 35673569. [DCB]Google Scholar
Burr, D. C., Holt, J., Johnstone, J. R. & Ross, J. (1982) Selective depression of motion selectivity during saccades. Journal of Psychology (London) 333: 115. [DCB]Google Scholar
Campbell, F. W. & Wurtz, R. H. (1978) Saccadic omission: why we do not see a greyout during a saccadic eye movement. Vision Research 18: 12971303.Google Scholar
Chekaluk, E. (1994) Is there a role for extraretinal factors in the maintenance of stability in a structured environment? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 17: 192.Google Scholar
Dassonville, P. Schlag, J. & Schlag-Rey, M. (1992) Oculomotor localization relies on a damped representation of saccadic eye displacement in human and nonhuman primates. Visual Neuroscience 9: 261269. [WAH]Google Scholar
Duhamel, J.-R. Colby, C & Goldberg, M. (1992) The updating of the representation of visual space in parietal cortex by intended eye movements. Science 255: 9092. [BB, WAH]Google Scholar
Field, D. J. (1987) Relations between the statistics of natural images and the response properties of cortical cells. Journal of the Optical Society of America A4: 23792394. [DCB]Google Scholar
Hallett, P. E. & Lightstone, A. (1976) Saccadic eye movements to flashed targets. Vision Research 26: 101107.Google Scholar
Hershberger, W. (1987) Saccadic eye movements and the perception of visual direction. Perception & Psychophysics 41: 3544.Google Scholar
Hershberger, W. A. & Jordan, J. S. (1992) Visual direction constancy: Perceiving the visual direction of perisaccadic flashes. In: Chekaluk, E. & Llewellyn, K. R. (eds.), The role of eye movements in perceptual processes (pp. 143). Elsevier/North Holland.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Hutchins, D. J. & McCoskrie, C. (1978) A motion-induced breakdown of visual figure-ground relationships. Perception & Psychophysics 24: 181. [rBB]Google Scholar
Ilg, U. J. & Hoffmann, K-P. (1993) Motion perception during saccades. Vision Research 33: 211220. [DCB]Google Scholar
Irwin, D. E. (1991) Information integration across saccadic eye movements. Cognitive Psychology 23: 420–56.Google Scholar
Jordan, J. S. & Hershberger, W. (1994) Timing the shift in retinal local signs that accompanies a saccadic eye movement. Perception & Psychophysics 55: 656666. [BB, WAH]Google Scholar
Mackay, D. M. (1970) Elevation of visual threshold by displacement of visual images. Nature 225: 9092. [DCB]Google Scholar
Macknik, S. L., Bridgeman, B. & Switkes, E. (1991) Saccadic suppression of displacement at isoluminance. Investigatine Ophthalmology and Visual Science Supplement 32: 899. [DCB]Google Scholar
Matin, E. (1974) Saccadic suppression: A review and an analysis. Psychological Bulletin 81: 899917. [DCB]Google Scholar
Matin, L. (1972) Eye movements and perceived visual direction. In: Jameson, D. & Hurvich, L. (eds.), Handbook of sensory physiology (Vol. 7/4). Springer. [WAH]Google Scholar
Matin, L. (1982) Visual localization and eye movements. In: Wagenaar, W. A., Werheim, A. H. & Leibowitz, H. (eds.), Eye Movements and Psychological Processes: 182225. Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Matin, L. & Pearce, D. (1965) Visual perception of direction for stimuli flashed during voluntary saccadic eye movements. Science 148: 14851488.Google Scholar
Miller, J. M. (1993) Egocentric localization of a brief perisaccadic flash. Investigative OPhthalmology & Visual Science 34(Suppl.): 1138.Google Scholar
Owens, D. A. & Reed, E. S. (1994) Seeing where we look: Fixation as extraretinal information. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 17: 271272. [WAH]Google Scholar
Robinson, D. A. (1981) The use of control systems analysis in the neurophysiology of eye movements. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 4: 463503. [WAH]Google Scholar
Shiori, S. & Cavanagh, P. (1989) Saccadic suppression of low-level motion. Vision Research 29: 915928. [DCB]Google Scholar
Uchikawa, K. & Sato, M. (1995). Saccadic suppression to achromatic and chromatic responses measured by increment-threshold spectral sensitivity. Journal of the Optical Society of America A (in press). [DCB]Google Scholar