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VisualEyes: A Modular Software System for Oculomotor Experimentation
Published on: March 25, 2011
Predictive remapping of attention across eye movements.
Martin Rolfs1, Donatas Jonikaitis, Heiner Deubel
1Université Paris Descartes, Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Paris, France. martin.rolfs@gmail.com
Nature Neuroscience
|December 28, 2010
Summary
Attention shifts to future visual locations before saccades (rapid eye movements), improving perception and speeding eye movements. This predictive remapping helps track targets during eye blinks and visual smearing.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Retinotopic brain areas show increased activity before saccades.
- Previous research explored predictive remapping but not its effect on attentional performance at future target locations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether attention shifts to future retinal locations of attended targets before saccades.
- To determine if this presaccadic attentional shift enhances performance at postsaccadic locations.
Main Methods:
- Participants performed tasks involving saccades to attended targets.
- Measured attentional performance at future retinal locations before and after saccade initiation.
Main Results:
- Attention shifted to the postsaccadic retinal locations of attended targets before eye movements began.
- This presaccadic attention shift facilitated performance at the future target locations.
Conclusions:
- Presaccadic shifts in visual attention improve perceptual processing at future locations.
- These shifts also speed up subsequent eye movements, optimizing visual scene tracking during saccades.
