[visionlist] microsaccades during free viewing

Fri Aug 17 17:01:38 GMT 2007

Reply to:  Francisco Flores's query about the rate of microsaccades in free
visual exploration:
Please find below a (non-exhaustive) list of papers from the last 10 years,
on the role of microsaccades in a variety of visual tasks: prolonged
fixation, free-viewing and guided-viewing, in humans and primates. These
studies show that microsaccades counteract visual fading, increase
visibility of visual targets, and generate strong neural firing in visual
neurons throughout the visual pathway, both during fixation and during
visual exploration. Note that all these recent studies used objective
microsaccade-detecting algorithms (such as those described in detail by
Martinez-Conde et al (2000), or by Engbert and Kliegl (2003)), and so the
results are easily replicable. These objective algorithms base microsaccade
characterization on parameters derived from the distribution of involuntary
saccades during visual fixation, rather than on arbitrary magnitude or
velocity thresholds (as done by previous studies). Another potential source
of confound in the earlier studies is that microsaccades were identified
subjectively (i.e. microsaccades used to be picked by hand from the
eye-position traces). 
 Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to encourage submissions to JOV's
recently announced Special Issue on eye movements and perception, of which
I'm the lead guest editor. One of the main topics to be covered in this
special issue is fixational eye movements and their effects on visual
perception. Please find the call for submissions pasted below the reference
list. The deadline is December 1st, 2007. 
Thanks, 
Susana Martinez-Conde

Martinez-Conde S, Macknik SL (2007). "Windows on the mind". Scientific
American 297: 56-63. *COVER STORY.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermT
oSearch=17368501&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_Resu
ltsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum> Donner K, Hemila S (2007). Modelling the effect of
microsaccades on retinal responses to stationary contrast patterns. Vision
Research 47:1166-77. 
Martinez-Conde S (2006). "Fixational eye movements in normal and
pathological vision". Progress in Brain Research 154: 151-176.  
Engbert, R. (2006)  <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6123(06)54009-9>
Microsaccades: A microcosm for research on oculomotor control, attention,
and visual perception. Progress in Brain Research 154: 177-192.
Engbert, R. & Mergenthaler, K. (2006)
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0509557103> Microsaccades are triggered by
low retinal image slip. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(USA) 103: 7192-7197.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermT
oSearch=16328308&ordinalpos=8&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_Resu
ltsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum> Rolfs M, Laubrock J, Kliegl R. Shortening and
prolongation of saccade latencies following microsaccades. Experimental
Brain Research 169:369-76. 
Engbert, R. (2006)
<http://www.neuron.org/content/article/abstract?uid=PIIS0896627306000067>
Flick-induced flips in perception. Neuron, 49: 168-170.
Martinez-Conde S, Macknik SL, Troncoso XG, Dyar TA (2006). "Microsaccades
counteract visual fading during fixation". Neuron 49: 297-305. *Reviewed by
the Faculty of 1000. 
Martinez-Conde S, Macknik SL, Hubel DH (2004). "The role of fixational eye
movements in visual perception". Nature Reviews Neuroscience 5: 229-240.
*Featured article of the month.
Martinez-Conde S, Macknik SL, Hubel DH (2002). "The function of bursts of
spikes during visual fixation in the awake primate lateral geniculate
nucleus and primary visual cortex".  Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences (USA) 99: 13920-13925.
Martinez-Conde S, Macknik S.L., Hubel, D.H. (2000). "Microsaccadic eye
movements and firing of single cells in the striate cortex of macaque
monkeys". Nature Neuroscience 3:251-258.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermT
oSearch=9246432&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_Resul
tsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum> Livingstone MS, Freeman DC, Hubel DH (1996). Visual
responses in V1 of freely viewing monkeys. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol.
61:27-37. 

Call for Papers - Special Journal of Vision Issue on Eye Movements and
Perception

Eye movements and the perception of a clear and stable visual world

Natural vision occurs under daunting conditions:  Saccadic eye movements
abruptly shift the retinal image at intervals ranging from once every
several seconds to 2 or 3 times per second, bringing an entirely new image
to the fovea each time.  These abrupt displacements are superimposed on a
platform of irregular retinal oscillations that can reach velocities of
several degrees per second when head and body, as well as the eye, are free
to move.   Despite these continually changing retinal conditions,  the
visual world appears stable and clear.  Recent developments have led to new
insights into how the visual system copes with natural retinal image
motions, as well as the neural mechanisms underlying their perceptual
suppression.  These developments are highlighted by behavioral,
psychophysical, computational and neurophysiological research carried out
under conditions that increasingly approach the complexities of the natural
retinal environment.

The topics of the special issue include:

o      Visual function with natural and artificial retinal image motions
o      Eye movements and perceptual stability
o      Perceptual localization during and around the time of saccades
o      Transaccadic memory
o      Eye movements of fixation
o      Attention and eye movements
o      Oculomotor compensation for movements of head and body
o      Perceptual suppression of eye movements

Guest Editors:

Susana Martinez-Conde             Barrow Neurological Institute, USA
smart at neuralcorrelate.com
Rich Krauzlis                 Salk Institute for Biological Studies, USA
rich at salk.edu
Joel Miller                                      Smith-Kettlewell Eye
Research Institute, USA jmm at ski.org
Concetta Morrone                       Istituto di Neuroscienze CNR, Italy
concetta at in.cnr.it
David Williams                             University of Rochester, USA
david at cvs.rochester.edu
Eileen Kowler                                Rutgers University
kowler at rci.rutgers.edu

Deadline for submission:            December 1, 2007
Target publication date:              June, 2008

Online call for papers:  <http://journalofvision.org/specialissues/>
http://journalofvision.org/specialissues/

----------------------------------------------------------------
Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD
Director, Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience
Division of Neurobiology
Barrow Neurological Institute
350 W. Thomas Rd
Phoenix AZ 85013, USA

Phone: +1 (602) 406-3484
Fax: +1 (602) 406-4172
Email: smart at neuralcorrelate.com
http://www.neuralcorrelate.com/smc_lab/

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