scholarly journals Salient Distractors Can Induce Saccade Adaptation

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Afsheen Khan ◽  
Sally A. McFadden ◽  
Mark Harwood ◽  
Josh Wallman
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Visual Target ◽  
Random Noise ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Small Degree ◽  
Error Signal ◽  
Intended Target ◽  
Saccade Adaptation

When saccadic eye movements consistently fail to land on their intended target, saccade accuracy is maintained by gradually adapting the movement size of successive saccades. The proposed error signal for saccade adaptation has been based on the distance between where the eye lands and the visual target (retinal error). We studied whether the error signal could alternatively be based on the distance between the predicted and actual locus of attention after the saccade. Unlike conventional adaptation experiments that surreptitiously displace the target once a saccade is initiated towards it, we instead attempted to draw attention away from the target by briefly presenting salient distractor images on one side of the target after the saccade. To test whether less salient, more predictable distractors would induce less adaptation, we separately used fixed random noise distractors. We found that both visual attention distractors were able to induce a small degree of downward saccade adaptation but significantly more to the more salient distractors. As in conventional adaptation experiments, upward adaptation was less effective and salient distractors did not significantly increase amplitudes. We conclude that the locus of attention after the saccade can act as an error signal for saccade adaptation.

Hysteresis and slow drift in abducens unit activity

1986 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 1044-1056 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. P. Goldstein ◽  
D. A. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Firing Rate ◽  
Visual Target ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Oculomotor System ◽  
Primary Position ◽  
Background Rate ◽  
Slow Drift ◽  
Theoretical Question

Two trained monkeys made saccadic eye movements to a small visual target. The activity of 39 isolated abducens units, presumed to be motoneurons or abducens internuclear neurons, was recorded in relation to these eye movements. After a calibration trial, a test trial repeatedly elicited 20 degrees horizontal saccades to primary position from either the left or right. On average, the steady-state firing rate at primary position depended on the direction of the saccade. For saccades where the neuron showed a burst in activity during the saccade (on-saccades) the steady-state firing rates were usually higher than for those saccades that showed a pause in activity during the saccade (off-saccades). For the population of units this hysteresis measured 5.4 spikes/s, which may be compared with an average primary-position rate of 97 spikes/s. The average hysteresis for individual units ranged from -2.1 to 18.5 spikes/s. The steady-state firing rate after equal saccades in the same direction and ending at the same position (primary) varied slowly over time. Across all units the variability (standard deviation) ranged from 0.5 to 11.8 spikes/s with a mean of 4.7 spikes/s. Furthermore, for any one unit the variations following on-saccades generally correlated with the variations following the off-saccades. Hysteresis, doubted by many, does exist. Fortunately, it is small enough, 5.5% of typical primary-position rate, that it can be neglected for many purposes. Nevertheless, it poses the interesting theoretical question of how the oculomotor system compensates for hysteresis. The simplest explanation of slow variations in background rate is cocontractive noise: a slow fluctuation in all abducens neurons so that these variations do not result in fluctuations of eye position.

Short Report: Scrutinization, Spatial Attention, and the Spatial Programming of Saccadic Eye Movements

1992 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 633-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Findlay ◽  
Zoi Kapoula
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Short Report ◽  
Similar Material ◽  
Visual Tasks ◽  
Corrective Saccade ◽  
Spatial Programming

Results are presented from an experiment in which subjects’ eye movements were recorded while they carried out two visual tasks with similar material. One task was chosen to require close visual scrutiny; the second was less visually demanding. The oculomotor behaviour in the two tasks differed in three ways. (1) When scrutinizing, there was a reduction in the area of visual space over which stimulation influences saccadic eye movements. (2) When moving their eyes to targets requiring scrutiny, subjects were more likely to make a corrective saccade. (3) The duration of fixations on targets requiring scrutiny was increased. The results are discussed in relation to current theories of visual attention and the control of saccadic eye movements.

scholarly journals Visual Attention Through Uncertainty Minimization in Recurrent Generative Models

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Standvoss ◽  
Silvan C. Quax ◽  
Marcel A.J. van Gerven
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Intelligent Agents ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Generative Models ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Relevant Stimulus ◽  
Predictive Uncertainty ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Uncertainty Minimization

AbstractAllocating visual attention through saccadic eye movements is a key ability of intelligent agents. Attention is both influenced through bottom-up stimulus properties as well as top-down task demands. The interaction of these two attention mechanisms is not yet fully understood. A parsimonious reconciliation posits that both processes serve the minimization of predictive uncertainty. We propose a recurrent generative neural network model that predicts a visual scene based on foveated glimpses. The model shifts its attention in order to minimize the uncertainty in its predictions. We show that the proposed model produces naturalistic eye movements focusing on informative stimulus regions. Introducing additional tasks modulates the saccade patterns towards task-relevant stimulus regions. The model’s saccade characteristics correspond well with previous experimental data in humans, providing evidence that uncertainty minimization could be a fundamental mechanisms for the allocation of visual attention.

scholarly journals Microsaccadic modulation evoked by emotional events

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Koji Kashihara
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Covert Attention ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Fixational Eye Movements ◽  
Emotional Attention ◽  
Emotional Events

Abstract Saccadic eye movements can allude to emotional states and visual attention. Recent studies have shown that microsaccadic responses (i.e., small fixational eye movements) reflect advanced brain activity during attentional and cognitive tasks. Moreover, the microsaccadic activity related to emotional attention provides new insights into this field. For example, emotional pictures attenuate the microsaccadic rate, and microsaccadic responses to covert attention occur in the direction opposite to a negative emotional target. However, the effects of various emotional events on microsaccadic activity remain debatable. This review introduces visual attention and eye movement studies that support findings on the modulation of microsaccadic responses to emotional events, comparing them with typical microsaccadic responses. This review also discusses the brain neuronal mechanisms governing microsaccadic responses to the attentional shifts triggered by emotion-related stimuli. It is hard to reveal the direct brain pathway of the microsaccadic modulation, especially in advanced (e.g., sustained anger, envy, distrust, guilt, frustration, delight, attraction, trust, and love), but also in basic human emotions (i.e., anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise). However, non-human primates and human studies can uncover the possible brain pathways of emotional attention and microsaccades, thus providing future research directions. In particular, the facilitated (or reduced) attention is common evidence that microsaccadic activities change under a variety of social modalities (e.g., cognition, music, mental illness, and working memory) that elicit emotions and feelings.

scholarly journals Deep Learning Neural Networks as a Model of Saccadic Generation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Krasovskaya ◽  
Georgii Zhulikov ◽  
Joseph MacInnes
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Deep Learning ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Pyramidal Neurons ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Feature Maps ◽  
Parallel Feature ◽  
Deep Learning Neural Network

Approximately twenty years ago, Laurent Itti and Christof Koch created a model of saliency in visual attention in an attempt to recreate the work of biological pyramidal neurons by mimicking neurons with centre-surround receptive fields. The Saliency Model has launched many studies that contributed to the understanding of layers of vision and the sphere of visual attention. The aim of the current study is to improve this model by using an artificial neural network as the spatial component of a model that generates saccades similar to how humans make saccadic eye movements. The proposed model uses a Leaky Integrate-and-Fire layer for temporal predictions, and replaces parallel feature maps with a deep learning neural network in order to create a generative model that is precise for both spatial and temporal shifts of attention. Our model was able to predict eye movements based on unsupervised learning from raw image input, combined with supervised learning from fixation maps retrieved during an eye-tracking experiment. The results imply that it is possible to match the spatial and temporal distributions of the model to spatial and temporal human distributions.

The Preparation of Goal-Directed Movements Requires Selective Visual Attention: Evidence from the Line-Motion Illusion

Perception ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 26 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 124-124
Author(s):  
H Deubel ◽  
S Shimojo ◽  
I Paprotta
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Short Soas ◽  
Directed Movement ◽  
Reaching Movement ◽  
Illusory Line Motion ◽  
Motion Effect

Previous research has demonstrated that visual attention is focused on the movement target, both before saccadic eye movements and before manual reaching, allowing for spatially selective object recognition (Deubel and Schneider, 1996 Vision Research36 1827 – 1837; Deubel, Schneider, and Paprotta, 1996 Perception Supplement, 13 – 19). Here we study the illusory line motion effect (Hikosaka et al, 1993 Vision Research33 1219 – 1240) in a dual-task paradigm to further investigate the coupling of attention and movement target selection. Subjects were presented a display with two potential movement targets (small circles). When one of the circles flashed, they performed a reaching movement with the unseen hand to the other stimulus; movements were registered with a Polhemus FastTrack system. At a SOA that was varied between 0 and 1000 ms after the movement cue, a line appeared and connected both stimuli. After the reaching movement, subjects indicated the perceived direction of line motion. In a second experiment, saccadic eye movements instead of reaching movements were studied. The data show that for short SOAs the subjects reported illusory line motion away from the cue location indicating that attention is automatically drawn to the cue. For longer SOAs but well before movement onset the illusory motion effect inverted—evidence for an attention shift to the movement target. The findings were very similar for manual reaching and for saccadic eye movements. The results confirm the hypothesis that the preparation of a goal-directed movement requires the attentional selection of the movement target. We discuss the assumption of a unitary attention mechanism which selects an object for visual processing, and simultaneously provides the information necessary for goal-directed motor action such as saccades, pointing, and grasping.

Context-specific adaptation of saccade gain in parabolic flight

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 211-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Shelhamer ◽  
Richard A. Clendaniel ◽  
Dale C. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Parabolic Flight ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Head Orientation ◽  
Eye Position ◽  
Vestibular Reflexes ◽  
Specific Adaptation ◽  
Gravitoinertial Force ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Saccade Adaptation

Previous studies established that vestibular reflexes can have two adapted states (e.g., gains) simultaneously, and that a context cue (e.g., vertical eye position) can switch between the two states. Our earlier work demonstrated this phenomenon of context-specific adaptation for saccadic eye movements: we asked for gain decrease in one context state and gain increase in another context state, and then determined if a change in the context state would invoke switching between the adapted states. Horizontal and vertical eye position and head orientation could serve, to varying degrees, as cues for switching between two different saccade gains. In the present study, we asked whether gravity magnitude could serve as a context cue: saccade adaptation was performed during parabolic flight, which provides alternating levels of gravitoinertial force (0 g and 1.8 g). Results were less robust than those from ground experiments, but established that different saccade magnitudes could be associated with different gravity levels.

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