Microsaccades counteract visual fading during fixation.
By S. Martinez-Conde, S. Macknik, Xoana G. Troncoso, T. Dyar. Neuron, 2005
471 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Our eyes move continually, even while we fixate our gaze on an object. If fixational eye movements are counteracted, our perception of stationary objects fades completely, due to neural adaptation. Some studies have suggested that fixational microsaccades refresh retinal images, thereby preventing adaptation and fading. However, other studies disagree, and so the role of microsaccades remains unclear. Here, we correlate visibility during fixation to the occurrence of microsaccades. We asked subjects to indicate when Troxler fading of a peripheral target occurs, while simultaneously recording their eye movements with high precision. We found that before a fading period, the probability, rate, and magnitude of microsaccades decreased. Before transitions toward visibility, the probability, rate, and magnitude of microsaccades increased. These results reveal a direct link between suppression of microsaccades and fading and suggest a causal relationship between microsaccade production and target visibility during fixation.
Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/56ac6d05c27296c04d0f2264343ec06f2a31acf9
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In Cognitive Neuroscience
Citations in the corpus
- Transient induced gamma-band response in EEG as a manifestation of miniature saccades. (2008, background): “…their functional utility has been questioned (Kowler and Steinman, 1980), recent findings suggest their importance for counteracting the fading of stable images on the retina , especially in the periphery (Martinez-Conde et al., 2006), as well as for fine visual discrimination (Rucci et al., 2007).”
- What is the best fixation target? The effect of target shape on stability of fixational eye movements. (2013, unknown): “Nonetheless, the eyes make small, involuntary movements (e.g. tremor, drift, microsaccades) (for reviews see for example Martinez-Conde et al., 2009; Martinez-Conde, Macknik & Hubel, 2004; Rolfs, 2009).”