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Updated: May 31, 2026
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Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity
Published on: March 18, 2019
A model-based theory on the signal transformation for microsaccade generation
Keiichiro Inagaki1, Yutaka Hirata, Shiro Usui
1Computational Science Research Program, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan. kay@brain.riken.jp
Summary
Miniature eye movements, like microsaccades, aid vision by enhancing visibility and preventing adaptation. A new neuronal network model suggests microsaccades occur when burst neurons are partially released from omnipause neuron inhibition during fixation.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Ophthalmology
- Computational Biology
Background:
- The eyes exhibit continuous miniature eye movements during fixation, including microsaccades, drifts, and tremors.
- These movements are known to enhance visual perception by improving high spatial frequency visibility and preventing retinal adaptation.
- However, the precise neural mechanisms underlying the generation of microsaccades remain largely unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the generation mechanism of microsaccades.
- To construct and validate a neuronal network model for microsaccade generation based on the known saccade pathway.
Main Methods:
- Developed a neuronal network model incorporating elements of the saccade pathway: tonic neurons, burst neurons (BNs), omnipause neurons (OPNs), the integrator network, and the eye plant.
- Simulated the model to reproduce key characteristics of microsaccades and compare them to experimental data.
Main Results:
- The model successfully replicated several microsaccade characteristics, including square-wave jerk, single-sided microsaccades, and the amplitude-velocity main sequence.
- Analysis revealed that during microsaccades, BNs exhibited low-rate spiking due to a partial release from OPN inhibition.
- This contrasts with ordinary saccades, where OPNs completely pause firing.
Conclusions:
- Microsaccades are likely generated by a partial, rather than complete, release of BNs from OPN inhibition during fixation.
- The findings elucidate a key neural mechanism for microsaccade generation, differentiating it from that of larger saccades.
- This model provides a framework for further research into the neural control of eye movements.
