Stop before you saccade: Looking into an artificial peripheral scotoma

Area of Science:

• Visual perception
• Oculomotor control
• Cognitive neuroscience

Background:

• Gaze-contingent scotomas simulate peripheral vision loss.
• Understanding compensatory eye movements is crucial for visual impairment research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if healthy adults can intentionally move their eyes to reveal a hidden target under time pressure.
• To explore the saccade strategies employed when visual information is partially obscured.

Main Methods:

• Participants performed an object-comparison task with a gaze-contingent scotoma.
• Eye movements were tracked as participants judged silhouette visibility.
• Stimuli were presented in various locations relative to the scotoma.

Main Results:

• Most participants successfully moved their eyes to the hidden informative target.
• Saccades to the hidden target occurred across different stimulus locations.
• Older adults also demonstrated this ability.
• Saccades to the hidden target showed longer latencies, indicating a deliberate strategy.

Conclusions:

• Healthy adults can employ cognitive strategies to overcome simulated peripheral vision loss.
• Findings have implications for understanding and aiding individuals with conditions like macular degeneration.
• The 'stop before you saccade' strategy highlights deliberate oculomotor control.