The peripheral sensitivity profile at the saccade target reshapes during saccade preparation

Dissociating oculomotor contributions to spatial and feature-based selection

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00275.2013 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 110 (7) ◽

pp. 1525-1534 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Donatas Jonikaitis ◽

Jan Theeuwes

Keyword(s):

Visual Perception ◽

Target Location ◽

Target Selection ◽

Visual Selection ◽

Saccade Target ◽

Perceptual Discrimination ◽

Spatial Selection ◽

Feature Based ◽

Selection Mechanisms ◽

Saccade Preparation

Saccades not only deliver the high-resolution retinal image requisite for visual perception, but processing stages associated with saccade target selection affect visual perception even before the eye movement starts. These presaccadic effects are thought to arise from two visual selection mechanisms: spatial selection that enhances processing of the saccade target location and feature-based selection that enhances processing of the saccade target features. By measuring oculomotor performance and perceptual discrimination, we determined which selection mechanisms are associated with saccade preparation. We observed both feature-based and space-based selection during saccade preparation but found that feature-based selection was neither related to saccade initiation nor was it affected by simultaneously observed redistribution of spatial selection. We conclude that oculomotor selection biases visual selection only in a spatial, feature-unspecific manner.

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Evidence for a link between the experiential allocation of saccade preparation and visuospatial attention

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00534.2011 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 107 (5) ◽

pp. 1413-1420 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Janis Y. Y. Kan ◽

Ullanda Niel ◽

Michael C. Dorris

Keyword(s):

Threshold Model ◽

Maximum Level ◽

Spatial Location ◽

Visuospatial Attention ◽

Activity Level ◽

Saccade Target ◽

Discrimination Ability ◽

Visual Probe ◽

Probe Orientation ◽

Saccade Preparation

Whether a link exists between the two orienting processes of saccade preparation and visuospatial attention has typically been studied by using either sensory cues or predetermined rules that instruct subjects where to allocate these limited resources. In the real world, explicit instructions are not always available and presumably expectations shaped by previous experience play an important role in the allocation of these processes. Here we examined whether manipulating two experiential factors that clearly influence saccade preparation—the probability and timing of saccadic responses—also influences the allocation of visuospatial attention. Occasionally, a visual probe was presented whose spatial location and time of presentation varied relative to those of the saccade target. The proportion of erroneous saccades directed toward this probe indexed saccade preparation, and the proportion of correct discriminations of probe orientation indexed visuospatial attention. Overall, preparation and attention were significantly correlated to each other across these manipulations of saccade probability and timing. Saccade probability influenced both preparation and attention processes, whereas saccade timing influenced only preparation processes. Unexpectedly, discrimination ability was not improved in those trials in which the probe triggered an erroneous saccade despite particularly heightened levels of saccade preparation. To account for our results, we propose a conceptual dual-purpose threshold model based on neurophysiological considerations that link the processes of saccade preparation and visuospatial attention. The threshold acts both as the minimum activity level required for eliciting saccades and a maximum level for which neural activity can provide attentional benefits.

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Oculomotor capture by abrupt onsets reveals concurrent programming of voluntary and involuntary saccades

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x99382157 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 22 (4) ◽

pp. 689-690 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Arthur F. Kramer ◽

David E. Irwin ◽

Jan Theeuwes ◽

Sowon Hahn

Keyword(s):

Concurrent Programming ◽

Abrupt Onset ◽

Sudden Onset ◽

Saccade Target ◽

Oculomotor Capture ◽

Voluntary Saccade ◽

Winner Take All ◽

Saccade Preparation ◽

Salience Map ◽

Take All

In several recent experiments we have found that the eyes are often captured by the appearance of a sudden onset in a display, even though subjects intend to move their eyes elsewhere. Very brief fixations are made on the abrupt onset before the eyes complete their intended movement to the previously defined target. These results indicate concurrent programming of a voluntary saccade to the defined saccade target and an involuntary saccade to the sudden onset. This is inconsistent with the idea that a single salience map determines the location of a saccade in a winner-take-all fashion. Other results indicate that subjects attend to more than one location in a display during saccade preparation, contrary to the claim that covert attentional scanning plays no role in saccade generation.

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The peripheral sensitivity profile reshapes during saccade preparation

Journal of Vision ◽

10.1167/jov.20.11.709 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (11) ◽

pp. 709

Author(s):

Lisa M. Kroell ◽

Martin Rolfs

Keyword(s):

Saccade Preparation ◽

Sensitivity Profile

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Lateralized Human Cortical Activity for Shifting Visuospatial Attention and Initiating Saccades

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.1998.80.6.2900 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 80 (6) ◽

pp. 2900-2910 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Author(s):

Bernd Wauschkuhn ◽

Rolf Verleger ◽

Edmund Wascher ◽

Wolfgang Klostermann ◽

Marcel Burk ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Visual Attention ◽

Short Interval ◽

Cortical Activity ◽

Stimulus Onset ◽

Visuospatial Attention ◽

Saccade Target ◽

Relevant Stimulus ◽

Stimulus Component ◽

Saccade Direction ◽

Saccade Preparation

Wauschkuhn, Bernd, Rolf Verleger, Edmund Wascher, Wolfgang Klostermann, Marcel Burk, Wolfgang Heide, and Detlef Kömpf. Lateralized human cortical activity for shifting visuospatial attention and initiating saccades. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 2900–2910, 1998. The relation between shifts of visual attention and saccade preparation was investigated by studying their electrophysiological correlates in human scalp-recorded electroencephalogram (EEG). Participants had to make saccades either to a saliently colored or to a gray circle, simultaneously presented in opposite visual hemifields, under different task instructions. EEG was measured within the short interval between stimulus onset and saccade, focusing on lateralized activity, contralateral either to the side of the relevant stimulus or to the direction of the saccade. Three components of lateralization were found: 1) activity contralateral to the relevant stimulus irrespective of saccade direction, peaking 250 ms after stimulus onset, largest above lateral parietal sites, 2) activity contralateral to the relevant stimulus if the stimulus was also the target of the saccade, largest 330–480 ms after stimulus onset, widespread over the scalp but with a focus again above lateral parietal sites, and 3) activity contralateral to saccade direction, beginning about 100 ms before the saccade, largest above mesial parietal sites, with some task-dependent fronto–central contribution. Because of their sensitivity to task variables, component 1 is interpreted as the shifting of attention to the relevant stimulus, component 2 is interpreted as reflecting the enhancement of the attentional shift if the relevant stimulus is also the saccade target, and component 3 is interpreted as the triggering signal for saccade execution. Thus human neurophysiological data provided evidence both for independent and interdependent processes of saccade preparation and shifts of visual attention.

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The Relationship between Eye Movements and Spatial Attention

The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A ◽

10.1080/14640748608401609 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 38 (3) ◽

pp. 475-491 ◽

Cited By ~ 408

Author(s):

Martin Shepherd ◽

John M. Findlay ◽

Robert J. Hockey

Keyword(s):

Eye Movements ◽

Spatial Attention ◽

Target Position ◽

Saccadic Eye Movements ◽

Saccade Target ◽

Peripheral Stimulus ◽

Peripheral Stimulation ◽

Voluntary Eye Movements ◽

Automatic Capture ◽

Saccade Preparation

Most previous studies of the attentional consequences of making saccadic eye movements have used peripheral stimuli to elicit eye movements. It is argued that in the light of evidence showing automatic “capture” of attention by peripheral stimuli, these experiments do not distinguish between attentional effects due to peripheral stimuli and those due to eye movements. In the present study, spatial attention was manipulated by varying the probability that peripheral probe stimuli would appear in different positions, while saccades were directed by a central arrow, enabling the effects of attention and eye movements to be separated. The results showed that the time to react to a peripheral stimulus could be shortened both by advance knowledge of its likely position and, separately, by preparing to make a saccade to that position. When the saccade was directed away from the most likely position of the probe, the targets for attention and eye movements were on opposite sides of the display. In this condition, the effects of preparing to make a saccade proved to be stronger than the effects of attentional allocation until well after the saccade had finished, suggesting that making a saccade necessarily involves the allocation of attention to the target position. The effects of probe stimuli on saccade latencies were also examined: probe stimuli that appeared before the saccade shortened saccade latencies if they appeared at the saccade target, and lengthened saccade latencies if they appeared on the opposite side of fixation. These facilitatory and inhibitory effects were shown to occur at different stages of saccade preparation and suggest that attention plays an important role in the generation of voluntary eye movements. The results of this study indicate that while it is possible to make attention movements without making corresponding eye movements, it is not possible to make an eye movement (in the absence of peripheral stimulation) without making a corresponding shift in the focus of attention.

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