Summary
Neurophysiological data from single cells in the monkey's visual association cortex as well as saccadic reaction time measurements in monkey and man are reported. When a monkey directs his attention to a peripheral light stimulus the visual activation of cortical cells responsive to that stimulus is increased. If visual attention is directed to a particular part of the visual field the saccadic reaction time is long (around 200 ms in monkey and above 200 ms in man). In contrast, if attention is disengaged from any location to which it might have been engaged before, monkeys and men can execute express saccades, that is, saccades after extremely short and stable reaction times (around 75 ms in monkey and 100 ms in man). The results are interpreted in the context of a hypothesis according to which the initiation of voluntary, visually guided saccades includes three premotor mechanisms: the computation of the target location, the decision to make a saccade, and the disengagement of attention.
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Fischer, B. The role of attention in the preparation of visually guided eye movements in monkey and man. Psychol. Res 48, 251–257 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00309089
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00309089