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Attentional release in the saccadic gap effect.

Zhenlan Jin1, Adam Reeves

  • 1Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, 360 Huntingdon Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA. jin@ski.org

Vision Research
|March 10, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Attention release explains the saccadic gap effect, where saccadic latency shortens when fixation disappears before a target appears. This attentional shift takes about 140ms to complete.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Oculomotor Research

Background:

  • The saccadic 'gap effect' describes shorter saccadic latency (SL) when fixation disappears before target onset.
  • Existing explanations like oculomotor readiness or stimulus salience have been debated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if attention release from fixation is the primary mechanism behind the saccadic gap effect.
  • To quantify the time course of this attentional release.

Main Methods:

  • Participants performed saccade and button-press tasks under overlap, gap0, and gap200 conditions.
  • The gap200 condition involved various fixation spot changes (removal, dimming, expansion, brightening) 200ms before target onset.
  • A secondary probe-dot task measured reaction times after fixation spot manipulation to assess attention dynamics.

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Last Updated: Jun 25, 2026

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Using Saccadometry with Deep Brain Stimulation to Study Normal and Pathological Brain Function
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Main Results:

  • Data ruled out speed-accuracy trade-offs, express saccades, stimulus salience, and oculomotor readiness as sole explanations.
  • Fixation offset and general warning signals had minimal impact on saccadic latency.
  • Attention release was identified as the most plausible explanation for the gap effect.
  • Reaction times to a probe dot were faster when attention was released (fixation removed) compared to when it was held (fixation brightened).
  • The time course of attentional release was mapped, indicating it takes approximately 140ms.

Conclusions:

  • Attention release from fixation is the predominant factor explaining the saccadic gap effect.
  • The findings provide a temporal profile for the cognitive process of attentional disengagement in the context of saccade generation.