Saccadic facilitation in natural backgrounds

Current Biology : CB
Brian J WhiteKarl R Gegenfurtner

Abstract

In visual systems with a fovea, only a small portion of the visual field can be analyzed with high accuracy. Saccadic eye movements shift that center of gaze around several times a second. Saccades have been characterized in great detail and depend critically on a number of visual properties of the stimuli. However, typical experiments have used bright spots on dark backgrounds, while our natural environment has a highly characteristic rich spatial structure. Here we show that the saccadic system, unlike the perceptual system, is able to compensate for the masking caused by structured backgrounds. Consequently, saccadic latencies in the context of natural backgrounds are much faster than unstructured backgrounds at equal levels of visibility. The results suggest that whenever a structured background acts to mask the visibility of the saccade target, it simultaneously preactivates saccadic circuitry and thus ensures a fast reaction to potentially critical stimuli that are difficult to detect in our environment.

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Citations

Jan 5, 2010·Attention, Perception & Psychophysics·Christoph Rasche, Karl R Gegenfurtner
Feb 19, 2011·Attention, Perception & Psychophysics·Petra Sinn, Ralf Engbert
Sep 5, 2009·Trends in Neurosciences·Julia TrommershäuserKarl R Gegenfurtner
May 18, 2011·Human Movement Science·Peggy GerardinClaude Prablanc
Aug 16, 2016·Vision Research·Esther X W WuShih-Cheng Yen
Jun 6, 2018·PLoS Biology·Kazutaka MaedaOkihide Hikosaka
Nov 4, 2009·Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, Image Science, and Vision·Martin StritzkeKarl R Gegenfurtner
Mar 14, 2014·Journal of Neurophysiology·Michael J GrayMark R Harwood
Jul 22, 2018·Nature Communications·Chih-Yang ChenZiad M Hafed

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