Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 23, 2026
06:46
Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity
Published on: March 18, 2019
8.8K
Dynamic interactions between visual working memory and saccade target selection.
Sebastian Schneegans1, John P Spencer2, Gregor Schöner1
1Institut für Neuroinformatik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
Journal of Vision
|September 18, 2014
Summary
Visual working memory for color influences eye movement planning, affecting target selection and movement execution. This study confirms bidirectional interactions between memory and perception in guiding saccadic eye movements.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Computational Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Psychophysical experiments reveal interactions between working memory for visual features and saccadic motor planning.
- Memorized color information influences saccade target selection, amplitude, and latency, even with clear spatial cues.
Purpose of the Study:
- To elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying the interaction between visual working memory and saccadic motor planning.
- To present and validate a dynamic neural field model that captures these interactions.
Main Methods:
- Developed a dynamic neural field model integrating visual sensory representation, spatial attention, saccade generation, and color working memory.
- Collected new experimental data to test model predictions regarding bidirectional coupling.
Main Results:
- The model quantitatively reproduced observed effects of working memory on saccade planning.
- New experimental data confirmed bidirectional coupling: saccade target selection biased visual working memory for color.
Conclusions:
- Working memory content dynamically influences perceptual processing and saccadic motor planning.
- Demonstrated bidirectional coupling between visual working memory and perceptual processing, challenging previous unidirectional assumptions.
