Differences in accuracy of human saccades between stationary and jumping targets

Saccades have traditionally been studied in response to suddenly changing visual stimuli, such as jumping targets. In every-day life, however, most targets are stationary. We studied saccades made in either target condition. Saccadic accuracy was two- to five-fold better with stationary targets than with jumping targets. In addition, both the number of secondary saccades and the total time required to foveate the target were decreased with stationary targets in comparison to jumping targets. We also found that with an illuminated background the total time required to foveate the target was shorter than when the background was dark.