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Updated: Aug 7, 2025

Recording Horizontal Saccade Performances Accurately in Neurological Patients Using Electro-oculogram

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Published on: March 13, 2018

Microsaccades transiently lateralise EEG alpha activity.

Baiwei Liu¹, Anna C Nobre², Freek van Ede³

¹Institute for Brain and Behavior Amsterdam, Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Progress in Neurobiology

|March 12, 2023

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Spontaneous microsaccades, tiny eye movements, can influence brain activity. These involuntary movements drive transient lateralisation of electroencephalography (EEG) alpha power, impacting spatial cognition research.

Keywords:

Alpha oscillation EEG Microsaccade Spatial attention

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Last Updated: Aug 7, 2025

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience
Human Electrophysiology

Background:

8-12 Hz alpha activity lateralisation is a key marker for human spatial cognition.
Research typically requires strict eye fixation, overlooking natural microsaccades.
Microsaccades are small, involuntary eye movements occurring even during attempted fixation.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the influence of spontaneous microsaccades on EEG alpha power lateralisation.
To determine if microsaccade direction affects alpha power distribution.
To explore the relationship between microsaccades and electrophysiological signatures of spatial cognition.

Main Methods:

Recording electroencephalography (EEG) during attempted visual fixation.
Analyzing spontaneous microsaccades (direction and timing).
Correlating microsaccade events with transient changes in posterior alpha power.

Main Results:

Spontaneous microsaccades transiently lateralise posterior EEG alpha power based on their direction.
This lateralisation effect is observed for both initiating and returning microsaccades.
For initiating microsaccades, alpha power increases ipsilateral to the eye movement direction.

Conclusions:

Spontaneous microsaccades are a direct driver of alpha power lateralisation.
Microsaccades represent a significant confounding factor in studies of spatial cognition using alpha activity.
Future research on visual attention, anticipation, and working memory should account for microsaccade-related alpha modulation.