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Violating the main sequence: asymmetries in saccadic peak velocities for saccades into the temporal versus nasal hemifields

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Abstract

Saccadic peak velocities during monocular and binocular presentation were tested. While the main sequence linear increase in peak velocities as a function of saccade amplitude is well documented, our results provide demonstrations of violations of the main sequence. Peak velocities during monocular presentation were considerably higher toward temporal than nasal stimuli. This nasal–temporal asymmetry (NTA) was not explained by amplitude differences and was most pronounced for the lowest amplitudes tested, decreasing with increased amplitude. Under binocular presentation, this NTA was much smaller. While the exact reasons for this difference in peak velocities between hemifields are unclear at present, we propose that anatomical NTAs result in stronger signals from the nasal, than temporal retina leading to higher peak velocities into the temporal visual hemifield. NTAs in peak velocity are consistent with NTAs in attentional choice and in attentional function, which might also be explained by anatomical NTA.

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Notes

  1. In experiments 1 and 2 in Jóhannesson et al. (2012), a very different task involving interleaved centripetal, centrifugal, abducting, and adducting saccades was used, so data from those experiments are not included here.

  2. Exogenous attention and discrimination tasks will not be further discussed here since they are irrelevant to the current topic.

  3. Caution is needed for predictions of PV values at the outermost points in the graphs since they represent relatively few data points, especially for the higher amplitudes (toward the right of the graphs).

  4. The regression equation for the chosen model is: y = intercept + amplitudeSlope × amplitude + hemifieldSlope × hemifield + interactionSlope × amplitude × hemifield. To take an example a calculation for 5° amplitude and a saccade into the temporal hemifield yields: 187.2 + 19.8 × 5 + 47.8 × 1 + (−7.7 × 5 × 1) = 295.5°/s.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Visual Perception and Visuomotor Control, Faculty of Psychology, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Oddi, 101, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Ómar I. Jóhannesson & Árni Kristjánsson

  2. Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK

    Árni Kristjánsson

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  1. Ómar I. Jóhannesson
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  2. Árni Kristjánsson
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Correspondence to Ómar I. Jóhannesson.

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Jóhannesson, Ó.I., Kristjánsson, Á. Violating the main sequence: asymmetries in saccadic peak velocities for saccades into the temporal versus nasal hemifields. Exp Brain Res 227, 101–110 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3490-8

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