The spatio-temporal tuning of the mechanisms in the control of saccadic eye movements

Abstract

We compared the spatio-temporal tuning of perception to the mechanisms that drive saccadic eye movements. Detection thresholds were measured for Gabor-targets presented left or right of fixation (4 or 8 deg eccentricity), at one of four spatial frequencies (1, 2, 4 or 8 cpd) oscillating at one of three temporal frequencies (1, 8 or 16 Hz). We then measured saccade latency to each target presented at various multiples of detection threshold. Consistent with previous research, latency decreased as a function of contrast. However, at equal detection performance, we found no systematic difference in saccadic latency and no difference in average oculometric performance (% correct saccade direction) across the different target spatio-temporal frequencies. Furthermore, position error remained fairly constant across all conditions. The results are consistent with the idea that the spatio-temporal signals used for perception are the same as those used by the mechanisms driving saccadic eye movements.