Dependence of visual suppression on the amplitudes of saccades and blinks

doi:10.1016/0042-6989(86)90133-1

Vision Research

Volume 26, Issue 11, 1986, Pages 1815-1824

https://doi.org/10.1016/0042-6989(86)90133-1 Get rights and content

Abstract

Visual suppression accompanying voluntary saccades and eyeblinks was measured for a range of amplitudes of both. Saccade amplitudes varied from 2 to 32° and blink amplitudes varied from a slight movement to a full closure of the eye. In every case, thresholds for detecting full-field luminance decrements were determined with the method of constant stimuli and a two alternative forced choice procedure. Results from three subjects show a monotonic increase in the amount of suppression produced by saccades and blinks of increasing amplitude. Data are discussed with respect to theories about the origin of visual suppression.

References (23)

BeelerG.W.
Visual threshold changes resulting from spontaneous saccadic eye movements
Vision Res.
(1967)
ManningK.A. et al.
Vergence eye movements and visual suppression
Vision Res.
(1984)
MitraniL. et al.
Dependence of visual suppression on the angular size of voluntary saccadic eye movements
Vision Res.
(1970)
RiggsL.A. et al.
Perception of suprathreshold stimuli during saccadic eye movement
Vision Res.
(1982)
VolkmannF.C. et al.
Measurements of visual suppression during opening, closing and blinking of the eye
Vision Res.
(1982)
BrooksB.A. et al.
Influence of background luminance on visual sensitivity during saccadic eye movements
Exp. Brain Res.
(1980)
CollewijnH. et al.
Human eye movements associated with blinks and prolonged eyelid closure
J. Neurophysiol.
(1985)
DodgeR.
Visual perception during eye movement
Psychol. Rev.
(1900)
EvingerC. et al.
Blinking and associated eye movements in humans, guinea pigs, and rabbits
J. Neurophysiol.
(1984)
HayesW.
GRAPH: A BASIC-II graphics program for digital plotter
Behav. Res. Meth. Intrum.
(1981)

HelmholtzH. von

Cited by (56)

All is not lost: Post-saccadic contributions to the perceptual omission of intra-saccadic streaks
2018, Consciousness and Cognition
Citation Excerpt :
There were no interactions between distractor location and distractor timing, nor was there a three-way interaction between target duration and distraction location and timing. An additional analysis was conducted to ensure that the differences in performance observed over experimental conditions could not have been mediated by differences in saccade amplitude (Stevenson, Volkmann, Kelly, & Riggs, 1986). First, summary statistics confirmed that average saccade amplitudes differed very little over the conditions (mean amplitude was 17.76°, SD = 1.5°, with means in each distractor condition ranging from 17.51° to 17.79°).
Saccades rapidly jerk the eye into new positions, yet we rarely experience the motion streaks imposed on the retinal image. Here we examined spatial and temporal properties of post-saccadic masking—one potential explanation of this perceptual omission. Observers judged the motion direction of a target stimulus, a Gaussian blob, that moved vertically upwards or downwards and then back to its initial position, just as observers made a saccade. We manipulated the onset and offset of the target and of distractors in various spatial relations to the target, and assessed their effect on performance and subjective confidence. Although the presence of the target after the saccade caused the strongest omission, the offset of spatially distant distractor stimuli upon saccade offset also impaired performance. The temporal properties of these two separate effects suggest that, in addition to masking, an independent effect of attentional distraction further accentuates perceptual omission of intra-saccadic motion streaks.
Investigating attention in complex visual search
2015, Vision Research
Citation Excerpt :
Contrary to what might be expected, accuracy of saccade targeting to task-relevant stimuli is not a simple function of stimulus discriminability; this is shown by the fact that the bias towards task-relevant stimuli was lowest near the fovea where discriminability ought to be greatest, increasing smoothly towards the periphery (Fig. 5). At first glance, this result may seem paradoxical, but given that the costs of generating a saccade, in metabolic terms and in the degree and duration of the visual disruption, are bound to scale with amplitude (Stevenson, Volkmann, Kelly, & Riggs, 1986), this finding might plausibly be explained by a higher threshold of certainty about the target identity, which needs to be overcome to trigger larger amplitude saccades. It therefore points towards an evaluation of biological cost in target selection during visual search, which also accords with the large bias towards targets near the fovea (Fig. 4).
How we attend to and search for objects in the real world is influenced by a host of low-level and higher-level factors whose interactions are poorly understood. The vast majority of studies approach this issue by experimentally controlling one or two factors in isolation, often under conditions with limited ecological validity. We present a comprehensive regression framework, together with a matlab-implemented toolbox, which allows concurrent factors influencing saccade targeting to be more clearly distinguished. Based on the idea of gaze selection as a point process, the framework allows each putative factor to be modeled as a covariate in a generalized linear model, and its significance to be evaluated with model-based hypothesis testing. We apply this framework to visual search for faces as an example and demonstrate its power in detecting effects of eccentricity, inversion, task congruency, emotional expression, and serial fixation order on the targeting of gaze. Among other things, we find evidence for multiple goal-related and goal-independent processes that operate with distinct visuotopy and time course.
Spontaneous eyeblink activity
2011, Ocular Surface
Citation Excerpt :
Another approach is to examine the lid excursion in sequential frames of an eyeblink videotape. With normal or high-speed cameras, the lid position is measured frame-by-frame in millimeters in order to quantify the final amplitude of the movement.21,28,42 As pointed out by Evinger, the upper lid margin movement during a blink is not represented by a vertical translation only.13
Spontaneous blinking is essential for maintaining a healthy ocular surface and clarity of vision. The spontaneous blink rate (SBR) is believed to reflect a complex interaction between peripheral influences mediated by the eye surface and the central dopaminergic activity. The SBR is thus extremely variable and dependent on a variety of psychological and medical conditions. Many different methods have been employed to measure the SBR and the upper eyelid kinematics during a blink movement. Each has its own merits and drawbacks, and the choice of a specific method should be tailored to the specific needs of the investigation. Although the sequence of muscle events that leads to a blink has been fully described, knowledge about the neural control of spontaneous blinking activity is not complete. The tear film is dynamically modified between blinks, and abnormalities of the blink rate have an obvious influence on the ocular surface.
Compression of time during smooth pursuit eye movements
2010, Vision Research
Citation Excerpt :
The average amplitude of the catch-up saccades was very small and equal to 1.37 deg (SD 0.53). Given that most of the saccade effects scale with saccade amplitude (Mitrani, Yakimoff, & Mateeff, 1970; Ridder & Tomlinson, 1997; Stevenson, Volkmann, Kelly, & Riggs, 1986; Van Wetter & Van Opstal, 2008), we would not expect a large compression due to the catch-up saccades. It has been suggested that there is a mental time line which associates past and short intervals with left space and future and long intervals with right space (see Oliveri, Koch, & Caltagirone, 2009 for a review).
Humans have a clear sense for the passage of time, but while implicit motor timing is quite accurate, explicit timing is prone to distortions particularly during action (Wenke & Haggard, 2009) and saccadic eye movements (Morrone, Ross, & Burr, 2005). Here, we investigated whether perceived duration is also affected by the execution of smooth pursuit eye movements, showing a compression of apparent duration similar to that observed during saccades. To this end, we presented two brief bars that marked intervals between 100 and 300 ms and asked subjects to judge their duration during fixation and pursuit. We found a compression of perceived duration for bars modulated in luminance contrast of about 32% and for bars modulated in chromatic contrast of 14% during pursuit compared to fixation. Interestingly, Weber ratios were similar for fixation and pursuit, if they are expressed as ratio between JND and perceived duration. This compression was constant for pursuit speeds from 7 to 14 deg/s and did not occur for intervals marked by auditory events. These results argue for a modality-specific component in the processing of temporal information.
Time gaps in mental imagery introduced by competing saccadic tasks
2009, Vision Research
Recently it has been suggested that, somehow similarly to visual saccadic suppression, saccades interrupt some mental activities. After demonstrating that spontaneous eye movements can be used to trace the instantaneous evolution of mental imagery, we show here that making a voluntary saccade or anti-saccade as a secondary task introduces a large delay in a concurrent motion imagery task. An identical task requiring a shift of attention but not saccades also delays imagery, though to a lesser extent. The delay is never compensated afterwards, as if the time dedicated to the secondary task was lost. In contrast, motion imagery is not delayed by spontaneous saccades that accompany imagery, as compared to a fixation condition. We conclude that important time gaps in cognitive activity are introduced only by tasks competing for attentional resources, including voluntary saccades, in dual-task contexts.
Frontal eye field signals that may trigger the brainstem saccade generator
2008, Progress in Brain Research
Citation Excerpt :
This step-like, position-altering mechanism is usually thought to be robust in assuring a single movement that finishes near the target. Since vision is degraded during saccades, a single-step arrangement and not multiple steps would optimize visual performance (Stevenson et al., 1986). However, a number of clinical studies have demonstrated that in some pathological states the burst generator loses its robust pulsatile drive.
Saccades are rapid shifts of gaze that normally place the line of sight on a desired target with a single smooth movement. A number of disease states have been shown to result in saccadic movements that are fragmented, but still end near target position after a multi-step sequence of saccades. Among these disorders are Parkinson's disease and late-onset Tay-Sachs disease (LOTS). We have recently shown that normal human subjects and monkeys also make some two-step saccadic responses in cognitively difficult, choice response tasks. In monkeys we have been able to record neuronal responses as the animals performed a visually guided, choice saccade task. We compared the activity of neurons in the superior colliculus (SC) and the cortical frontal eye field (FEF) during the majority of trials that were accomplished with single-step saccades with those completed with two-step saccades. Several differences in discharge pattern aligned on the first saccade were uncovered. Neurons in the rostral and caudal SC were not modulated at the time of the first saccade, but a class of FEF neurons showed a burst of activity before the first saccade. If these neurons are among those known to project to the saccade generator in the brainstem, they could trigger the onset of a saccade before the remaining machinery in the saccade generator had sufficient activity to sustain the saccade. Overall the results suggest that a delicate balance of triggering and sustaining inputs are required to produce normal single-step saccades. These neural results may also help to clarify the pathology present when fragmented saccades occur in various disease states.

View all citing articles on Scopus

^*: Present address: Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts.

View full text

Dependence of visual suppression on the amplitudes of saccades and blinks

Abstract

Vision Res.

Vision Res.

Vision Res.

Vision Res.

Vision Res.

Influence of background luminance on visual sensitivity during saccadic eye movements

Exp. Brain Res.

Human eye movements associated with blinks and prolonged eyelid closure

J. Neurophysiol.

Visual perception during eye movement

Psychol. Rev.

Blinking and associated eye movements in humans, guinea pigs, and rabbits

J. Neurophysiol.

GRAPH: A BASIC-II graphics program for digital plotter

Behav. Res. Meth. Intrum.