Skip to main content

Motion sensitivity during fixation in straight-ahead and lateral eccentric gaze

Experimental Brain Research volume 190, pages 189–200 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Despite motion of the entire retinal image that results from fixational eye-movements, the visual scene is perceived as stationary. One hypothesis to account for this observation is that normal motion sensitivity is limited by the variability of fixational eye velocity. The present experiments tested this hypothesis by comparing motion sensitivity and the variability of fixational eye velocity in corresponding meridians. Speed thresholds to detect horizontal, vertical, and rotary motion in a set of eight random-dot patches were measured, while normal observers monocularly viewed the stimulus with gaze either straight-ahead or deviated to the left by 45°. Eye-movement recordings using the search-coil technique were used to estimate the variability of eye velocity in the horizontal, vertical, and torsional meridians during fixation. As reported previously by Murakami (2004), the averaged thresholds for horizontal and vertical motion correlated with the averaged variability of eye velocity in the horizontal and vertical meridians when observers looked straight-ahead. However, no relationship existed between the threshold for rotary motion and the variability of eye velocity in the torsional meridian. Furthermore, no relationship existed between the motion threshold and the variability of eye velocity in any meridian during fixation in lateral eccentric gaze. These results are only partly consistent with the hypothesis that fixation variability limits motion sensitivity.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

43,34 €

Price includes VAT (Finland)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Notes

  1. When the sampling window for eye velocity was reduced from 500 to 20 ms, the correlation between the average thresholds to detect horizontal and vertical motion and the average SDs of horizontal and vertical eye velocity also showed no improvement during fixation at 45° eccentric gaze (r = 0.006).

References

  • Abadi RV, Whittle JP, Worfolk R (1999) Oscillopsia and tolerance to retinal image movement in congenital nystagmus. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 40:339–345

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Abel LA, Parker L, Daroff RB, Dell’Osso LF (1978) End-point nystagmus. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 17:539–544

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Acheson JF, Cassidy L, Grunfeld EA, Shallo-Hoffman JA, Bronstein AM (2001) Elevated visual motion detection thresholds in adults with acquired ophthalmoplegia. Br J Ophthalmol 85:1447–1449

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bahcall DO, Kowler E (1999) Illusory shifts in visual direction accompany adaptation of saccadic eye movements. Nature 400:864–866

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bedell HE (1992) Sensitivity to oscillatory target motion in congenital nystagmus. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 33:1811–1821

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bedell HE (2000) Perception of a clear and stable visual world with congenital nystagmus. Ophthalmol Vis Sci 77:573–581

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bedell HE, Currie DC (1993) Extraretinal signals for congenital nystagmus. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 34:2325–2332

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bergamin O, Bizzarri S, Straumann D (2002) Ocular torsion during voluntary blinks in humans. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 43:3438–3443

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bergamin O, Ramat S, Straumann D, Zee DS (2004) Influence of orientation of exiting wire of search coil annulus on torsion after saccades. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 45:131–137

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brainard DH (1997) The Psychophysics Toolbox. Spat Vis 10:433–436

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bridgeman B (2007) Efference copy and its limitations. Comput Biol Med 37:924–929

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bridgeman B, Palca J (1980) The role of microsaccades in high acuity observational tasks. Vision Res 20:813–817

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brunstetter TJ, Mitchell GL, Fogt N (2004) Magnetic field coil measurements of the accuracy of extreme gaze ocular fixation. Optom Vis Sci 81:606–615

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Bruyn B, Orban GA (1988) Human velocity and direction discrimination measured with random dot patterns. Vision Res 28:1323–1335

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buckingham T, Whitaker D (1986) Displacement threshold for continuous oscillatory movement: the effect of oscillation waveform and temporal frequency. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt 6:275–278

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burr DC (1981) Temporal summation of moving images by the human visual system. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 211:321–339

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Collewijn H, van der Mark F, Jansen TC (1975) Precise recording of human eye movements. Vision Res 14:447–450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collewijn H, van der Steen J, Ferman L, Jansen TC (1985) Human ocular counter roll: assessment of static and dynamic properties from electromagnetic scleral coil recordings. Exp Brain Res 59:185–196

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Corliss DA, Norton TT (2002) Principles of psychophysical measurement. In: Norton TT, Corliss DA, Bailey JE (eds) The psychophysical measurement of visual function. Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston, pp 1–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Crowell JA, Andersen RA (2001) Pursuit compensation during self-motion. Perception 30:1465–1488

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dieterich M, Grunbauer WM, Brandt T (1998) Direction-specific impairment of motion perception and spatial orientation in downbeat and upbeat nystagmus in humans. Neurosci Lett 245:29–32

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eizenman M, Cheng P, Sharpe JA, Frecker RC (1990) End-point nystagmus and ocular drift: an experimental and theoretical study. Vision Res 30:863–877

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ferman L, Collewijn H, Jansen TC, van den Berg AV (1987a) Human gaze stability in the horizontal, vertical and torsional direction during voluntary head movements, evaluated with a three-dimensional scleral induction coil. Vision Res 27:811–828

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ferman L, Collewijn H, van den Berg AV (1987b) A direct test of Listing’s law–II. Human ocular torsion measured under dynamic conditions. Vision Res 27:939–951

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein HP, Gottlob I, Fendick MG (1992) Visual remapping in infantile nystagmus. Vision Res 32:1115–1124

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Guthrie BL, Porter JD, Sparks DL (1983) Corollary discharge provides accurate eye position information to the oculomotor system. Science 221:1193–1195

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Haarmeier T, Their P, Repnow M, Petersen D (1997) False perception of motion in a patient who cannot compensate for eye movements. Nature 389:849–852

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • von Holst E, Mittelstaedt H (1971) The principle of reafference: interactions between the central nervous system and the peripheral organs. In: Dodwell PC (ed) Perceptual processing: stimulus equivalence and pattern recognition. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, pp 41–71 Published originally in Naturwissenschaften, 1950

    Google Scholar 

  • Irving EL, Zacher JE, Allison RS, Callender MG (2003) Effects of scleral search coil wear on visual function. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 44:1933–1938

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson CA, Scobey RP (1982) Effects of reference lines on displacement threshold at various durations of movement. Vision Res 22:819–821

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly DH (1979) Motion and vision. I. Stabilized images of stationary gratings. J Opt Soc Am 69:1266–1274

    PubMed  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • King-Smith PE, Riggs LA (1978) Visual sensitivity to controlled motion of a line or edge. Vision Res 18:1509–1520

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Legge GE, Campbell FW (1981) Displacement detection in human vision. Vision Res 21:205–213

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leigh RJ, Dell’Osso LF, Yaniglos SS, Thurston SE (1998a) Oscillopsia, retinal image stabilization and congenital nystagmus. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 29:279–282

    Google Scholar 

  • Leigh RJ, Rushton DN, Thurston SE, Hertle RW, Yaniglos SS (1988b) Effects of retinal image stabilization in acquired nystagmus due to neurologic disease. Neurology 38:122–127

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leopold DA, Logothetis NK (1998) Microsaccades differentially modulate neural activity in the striate and extrastriate visual cortex. Exp Brain Res 123:341–345

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Levi DM, Klein SA (1990) Equivalent intrinsic blur in spatial vision. Vision Res 30:1971–1993

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Martinez-Conde S, Macknik SL, Hubel DH (2000) Microsaccadic eye movements and firing of single cells in the striate cortex of macaque monkeys. Nat Neurosci 3:251–258

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Matin L, Pearce D, Matin E, Kibler G (1966) Visual perception of direction in the dark: roles of local sign, eye movements, and ocular proprioception. Vision Res 6:453–469

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Matin L, Matin E, Pearce DG (1970) Eye movements in the dark during the attempt to maintain a prior fixation position. Vision Res 10:837–857

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Matin L, Pola J, Matin E, Picoult E (1981) Vernier discrimination with sequentially-flashed lines: roles of eye movements, retinal offsets and short-term memory. Vision Res 21:647–656

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Morisita M, Yagi T (2001) The stability of human eye orientation during visual fixation and imagined fixation in three dimensions. Auris Nasus Larynx 28:301–304

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murakami I (2003) Illusory jitter in a static stimulus surrounded by a synchronously flickering pattern. Vision Res 43:957–969

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murakami I (2004) Correlations between fixation stability and visual motion sensitivity. Vision Res 44:751–761

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murakami I (2006) Fixational eye movements and motion perception. Prog Brain Res 154:193–209

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murakami I, Cavanagh P (1998) A jitter after-effect reveals motion-based stabilization of vision. Nature 395:798–801

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murakami I, Cavanagh P (2001) Visual jitter: evidence for visual-motion-based compensation of retinal slip due to small eye movements. Vision Res 41:173–186

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murakami I, Kitaoka A, Ashida H (2006) A positive correlation between fixation instability and the strength of illusory motion in a static display. Vision Res 46:2421–2431

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ott D, Seidman SH, Leigh RJ (1992) The stability of human eye orientation during visual fixation. Neurosci Lett 142:183–186

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pelli DG (1997) The VideoToolbox software for visual psychophysics: transforming numbers into movies. Spat Vis 10:437–442

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Raghunandan A, Frazier J, Poonja S, Roorda A, Stevenson SB (2008) Psychophysical measurements of referenced and unreferenced motion processing using high resolution retinal imaging. J Vis (Submitted)

  • van Rijn LJ, van der Steen J, Collewijn H (1994) Instability of ocular torsion during fixation: cyclovergence is more stable than cycloversion. Vision Res 34:1077–1087

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson DA (1963) A method of measuring eye movement using a scleral search coil in a magnetic field. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 10:137–145

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shallo-Hoffmann JA, Bronstein AM (2003) Visual motion detection in patients with absent vestibular function. Vision Res 43:1589–1594

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shallo-Hoffmann J, Schwarze H, Simonsz HJ, Mühlendyck H (1990) An examination of end-point and redound nystagmus in normals. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 31:388–392

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shallo-Hoffmann JA, Bronstein AM, Morland AB, Gresty MA (1998) Vertical and horizontal motion perception in congenital nystagmus. Neuroophthalmol 19:171–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shenoy KV, Crowell JA, Andersen RA (2002) Pursuit speed compensation in cortical area MSTD. J Neurophysiol 88:2630–2647

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skavenski AA, Steinman RM (1970) Control of eye position in the dark. Vision Res 10:193–203

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sommer MA, Wurtz RH (2006) Influence of the thalamus on spatial visual processing in frontal cortex. Nature 444:374–377

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Steinman RM, Levinson JZ (1990) The role of eye movement in the detection of contrast and spatial detail. In: Kowler E (ed) Eye movements and their role in visual and cognitive processes. Elsevier, New York, pp 115–212

    Google Scholar 

  • Tulunay-Keesey U, Ver Hoerve JN (1987) The role of eye movements in motion detection. Vision Res 27:747–754

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tyler CW, Torres J (1972) Frequency response characteristics for sinusoidal movement in the fovea and periphery. Percept Psychophys 12:232–236

    Google Scholar 

  • Ukwade MT, Bedell HE, White JM (2002) Orientation discrimination and variability of torsional eye position in congenital nystagmus. Vision Res 42:2395–2407

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winterson BJ, Collewijn H (1976) Microsaccades during finely guided visuomotor tasks. Vision Res 16:1387–1390

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wist ER, Brandt T, Krafczyk S (1983) Oscillopsia and retinal slip, Evidence supporting a clinical test. Brain 106(Pt 1):153–168

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank the experimental observers who participated in this study for their tolerance and dedication. We also thank Dr. Saumil S. Patel for helpful discussions and for assistance in preparing the experimental stimuli. This research was supported in part by research grant, R01 EY05086, short-term training grant, T35 EY07088, and Core Center award, P30 EY07751 from the National Eye Institute. Portions of the results were presented at the 2005 and 2006 meetings of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Patricia M. Cisarik

    Present address: College of Optometry, NOVA Southeastern University, 3200 S. University Drive, Ft Lauderdale, FL, 33328, USA

Affiliations

  1. College of Optometry, University of Houston, 505 J. Davis Armistead Building, Houston, TX, 77204-2020, USA

    Jianliang Tong, Thao C. Lien, Patricia M. Cisarik & Harold E. Bedell

  2. College of Optometry and Center for Neuro-Engineering and Cognitive Science, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Harold E. Bedell

Authors
  1. Jianliang Tong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thao C. Lien
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Patricia M. Cisarik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Harold E. Bedell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Harold E. Bedell.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tong, J., Lien, T.C., Cisarik, P.M. et al. Motion sensitivity during fixation in straight-ahead and lateral eccentric gaze. Exp Brain Res 190, 189–200 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-008-1462-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-008-1462-1

Keywords

  • Motion sensitivity
  • Eye-movement
  • Fixation
  • Space constancy