Effects of saccadic adaptation on visual localization before and during saccades

Abstract

Short-term saccadic adaptation is a mechanism that adjusts saccade amplitude to accurately reach an intended saccade target. Short-term saccadic adaptation induces a shift of perceived localization of objects flashed before the saccade. This shift, being detectable only before an adapted saccade, disappears at some time around saccade onset. Up to now, the exact time course of this effect has remained unknown. In previous experiments, the mislocalization caused by this adaptation-induced shift was overlapping with the mislocalization caused by a different, saccade-related localization error, the peri-saccadic compression. Due to peri-saccadic compression, objects flashed immediately at saccade onset appear compressed towards the saccade target. First, we tested whether the adaptation-induced shift and the peri-saccadic compression were either independent or related processes. We performed experiments with two different luminance-contrast conditions to separate the adaptation-induced shift and the peri-saccadic compression. Human participants had to indicate the perceived location of briefly presented stimuli before, during or after an adapted saccade. Adaptation-induced shift occurred similarly in either contrast condition, with or without peri-saccadic compression. Second, after validating the premise of both processes being independent and superimposing, we aimed at characterizing the time course of the adaptation-induced shift in more detail. Being present up to 1 s before an adapted saccade, the adaptation-induced shift begins to gradually decline from about 150 ms before saccade onset, and ceases during the saccade. A final experiment revealed that visual references make a major contribution to adaptation-induced mislocalization.