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At least 973 records · Page 54Linked to original sources

Perceptual biases in chimeric face processing: eye-movement patterns cannot explain it all.

Experiments using chimeric faces typically report a perceptual bias towards the viewers left. Here we show that this leftward bias can be elicited even when eye movement should be impossible. Although supporting previous studies arguing that eye movements are not necessary to generate the bias, the effect we found here was significantly reduced, compared to an earlier study which allowed eye movements. We suggest that the chimeric face bias is enhanced by eye movements.

Adult↗

Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of eye movements in first episode schizophrenia: smooth pursuit, visually guided saccades and the oculomotor delayed response task.

Schizophrenia patients show eye movement abnormalities that suggest dysfunction in neocortical control of the oculomotor system. Fifteen never-medicated, first episode schizophrenia patients and 24 matched healthy individuals performed eye movement tasks during functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. For both visually guided saccade and smooth pursuit paradigms, schizophrenia patients demonstrated reduced activation in sensorimotor areas supporting eye movement control, including the frontal eye fields, supplementary eye fields, and parietal and cingulate cortex. The same findings were observed for an oculomotor delayed response paradigm used to assess spatial working memory, during which schizophrenia patients also had reduced activity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In contrast, only minimal group differences in activation were found during a manual motor task. These results suggest a system-level dysfunction of cortical sensorimotor regions supporting oculomotor function, as well as in areas of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex that support spatial working memory. These findings indicate that a generalized rather than localized pattern of neocortical dysfunction is present early in the course of schizophrenia and is related to deficits in the sensorimotor and cognitive control of eye movement activity.

Adolescent↗

Eye movements and blinks: their relationship to higher cognitive processes.

Information about the timing of spontaneous eye blinks was abstracted while subjects performed a detection and identification task. We found blinks to be time-locked to saccadic eye movements involved in the identification of peripherally presented stimuli. The larger the required eye movement, the greater the likelihood of blink occurrence. Blink latencies were found to be significantly shorter for centrally, as compared to peripherally presented stimuli, and blinks were more likely to be associated with eye movement returning gaze to a central location than with movements associated with the identification of peripherally presented information. Thus, we conclude that the spontaneous or endogenous eye blink is triggered by aspects of information processing, and that blink latencies can be used as one tool for evaluating the level of complexity of such processing under a wide variety of task demands.

Blinking↗

Simultaneous unitary neuronal activity in both superior colliculi and its relation to eye movements in the cat.

The analysis of simultaneous unitary neuronal activity related to eye movement and recorded in both superior colliculi has shown a mirror-functioning image. Increase of the frequency discharge in a collicular unit, was associated with a decrease of the frequency discharge in the contralateral superior colliculus unit. This unitary neuronal reciprocal behaviour was observed each time a horizontal or oblique eye movement was produced. It is possible that this reciprocal functioning between neurones in both superior colliculi could exert an important influence on oculomotor brainstem structures. These results give a better idea of the role played by both superior colliculi in the control of conjugate eye movements.

Animals↗

Neural mechanisms of selection and control of visually guided eye movements.

The selection and control of action is a critical problem for both biological and machine animated systems that must operate in complex real world situations. Visually guided eye movements provide a fruitful and important domain in which to investigate mechanisms of selection and control. Our work has focused on the neural processes that select the target for an eye movement and the neural processes that regulate the production of eye movements. We have investigated primarily an area in the frontal cortex that plays a central role in the production of purposive eye movements which is called the frontal eye field. A fundamental property of biological nervous systems is variability in the time to respond to stimuli. Thus, we have been particularly interested in examining whether the time occupied by perceptual and motor decisions explains the duration and variability of behavioral reaction times. Current evidence indicates that salient visual targets are located through a temporal evolution of retinotopically mapped visually evoked activation. The responses to non-target stimuli become suppressed, leaving the activation representing the target maximal. The selection of the target leads to growth of movement-related activity at a stochastic rate toward a fixed threshold to generate the gaze shift. For a given image, the neural concomitants of perceptual processing occupy a relatively constant interval so that stochastic variability in response preparation introduces additional variability in reaction times. Neural processes in another cortical area, the supplementary eye field, do not participate in the control of eye movements but seem to monitor performance. The signals and processes that have been observed in the cerebral cortex of behaving monkeys may provide useful examples for the engineering problems of robotics.

Journal Article↗

Smooth-pursuit eye movements elicited by first-order and second-order motion.

The perception of the displacement of luminance-defined contours (i.e., first-order motion) is an important and well-examined function of the visual system. It can be explained, for example, by the operation of elementary motion detectors (EMDs), which cross-correlate the spatiotemporal luminance distribution. More recent studies using second-order motion stimuli, i.e., shifts of the distribution of features such as contrast, texture, flicker, or motion, extended classic concepts of motion perception by including nonlinear or hierarchical processing in the EMD. Smooth-pursuit eye movements can be used as a direct behavioral probe for motion processing. The ability of the visual system to extract motion signals from the spatiotemporal changes of the retinal image can be addressed by analyzing the elicited eye movements. We measured the eye movement response to moving objects defined by two different types of first-order motion and two different types of second-order motion. Our results clearly showed that the direction of smooth-pursuit eye movements was always determined by the direction of object motion. In particular, in the case of second-order motion stimuli, smooth-pursuit did not follow the retinal image motion. The latency of the initial saccades during pursuit of second-order stimuli was slightly but significantly increased, compared with the latency of saccades elicited by first-order motion. The processing of second-order motion in the peripheral visual field was less exact than the processing of first-order motion in the peripheral field. Steady state smooth-pursuit eye speed did not reflect the velocity of second-order motion as precisely as that of first-order motion, and the resulting retinal error was compensated by saccades. Interestingly, for slow second-order stimuli we observed that the eye could move faster than the target, leading to small, corrective saccades in the opposite direction to the ongoing smooth-pursuit eye movement. We conclude from our results that both visual perception and the control of smooth-pursuit eye movements have access to processing mechanisms extracting first- and second-order motion.

Fixation, Ocular↗

[The influence of geometric visual illusions on saccadic eye movements].

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate whether visually perceived length differences of Mueller-Lyer figures result in amplitude differences of saccadic eye movements along the figures. METHODS: Video recordings of eye movements were obtained from 35 healthy volunteers (aged 18 - 30 years) when scanning the endpoints of Mueller-Lyer targets. RESULTS: Saccades between the ends of lines with inward-pointing arrowheads had significantly greater amplitudes than saccades between the ends of lines with outward-pointing arrowheads. This bias was observed for both horizontal and vertical target orientations, and was maintained with a smaller amplitude, after fixation periods were extended from 1 s to 4 s. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in length perception by visual illusions correspond with changes in the amplitude of saccadic eye movements. Therefore, recordings of saccadic eye movements offer the opportunity to assess changes in visual object perception based on changes of central image processing at the cortical level.

Adolescent↗

Eye movements and phonological parafoveal preview: effects of reading skill.

Eye movements of skilled and less skilled readers were monitored as they read sentences containing a target word. The boundary paradigm was used such that when their eyes crossed an invisible boundary location, a preview word changed to the target word. The preview could either be identical to the target word (beach as a preview for beach), a homophone of the target word (beech as a preview for beach), an orthographic control (bench as a preview for beach), or an unrelated consonant string (jfzrp as a preview for beach). Consistent with prior research, skilled readers obtained more preview benefit from the homophone preview than from the orthographic preview. The less skilled readers, however, did not show such an effect. The results indicate that less skilled readers do not use phonological codes to integrate information across eye movements. Indeed, the results also indicate that less skilled readers do not show normal preview benefit effects.

Analysis of Variance↗

Head and eye movements in children with low vision.

BACKGROUND: Early childhood nystagmus may herald blindness, brain tumors, benign idiopathic motor nystagmus or spasmus nutans. Nystagmus unique to low vision was sought. METHODS: Videotapes and head/ eye movements of 18 congenitally visually impaired subjects were analyzed. RESULTS: Nystagmus of congenitally visually impaired subjects was characterized as small horizontal or vertical movements superimposed on larger oscillations. Small and large nystagmus movements were of pendular or jerk type. Slow-phase jerk nystagmus had increasing, constant and decreasing velocities. Fast-phase nystagmus changed direction periodically. Pendular nystagmus was out of phase and evolved to jerk nystagmus in two subjects. All subjects displayed head nodding, and one stabilized gaze with head movements. CONCLUSION: Eye movement recordings allow characterization and differentiation of subjects with nystagmus and low vision from other nystagmus forms.

Child↗

Eye movements in cerebellar and combined cerebellobrainstem diseases.

We report a quantitative analysis of eye movement disturbances in patients with isolated cerebellar disorders and patients with cerebellar disorders and concomitant brainstem involvement. The most characteristic abnormalities in the exclusively cerebellar patients were increased velocities of the slow phases of vestibular nystagmus induced by rotation in the dark and increased peak velocities of the fast phases of optokinetic nystagmus induced by full-field optokinetic stimuli. Dysmetria of saccades was found in three of six cerebellar patients and gaze nystagmus in all six patients. The typical findings in the combined cerebellobrainstem group were reduced peak velocities of voluntary saccades, defective smooth pursuit and reduced peak velocities of the fast component of nystagmus during rotation in both the dark and light. All patients with combined cerebellobrainstem disorder had dysmetric voluntary saccades and gaze nystagmus. The numbers of superimposed saccades during smooth pursuit were uniformly increased. Release of inhibition in cerebellar disorders may explain the hyperresponsiveness and inaccuracy of eye movements found in this study. In addition, when lesions also involve the brainstem, however, integrative centers coding eye velocity are affected, leading to slow and inaccurate eye movements. These features elicited clinically may be useful in the diagnosis of cerebellar and brainstem disorders.

Adult↗

Rapid eye movement sleep deprivation: a central-neural change during wakefulness.

Three adult cats were deprived of rapid eye movement sleep for six separate periods of up to 32 days. Animals were allowed normal amouints of sleeping time during which rapid eye movement sleep was interrupted, whenever it occurred, by human observers who continually monitored the animals and their electrocortical activity. Cortical responses evoked by pairs of acoustic clicks were recorded during wakefulness. Recovery functions derived from these data were facilitated during periods of deprivation of rapid eye movement sleep and returned to base-line values when animals were allowed normal amounts of this sleep phase. This change was noted repeatedly within, as well as between, subjects. It did not occur during control periods when non-rapid eye movement sleep was interrupted on identical schedules, nor did it occur when the cats were deprived of all sleep for 22 hours a day for 5 days.

Animals↗

Conjugate eye movements and gamma power modulation of the EEG in persistent vegetative state.

BACKGROUND: Power in the gamma band EEG increases during saccades in normal subjects. OBJECTIVE: To develop a potential method to quantify signs of cortical responsiveness in persistent vegetative state (PVS) we quantified gamma range EEG in association with conjugate slow ballistic eye movements (SBEM). METHODS: The EEG and the simultaneous electro-oculogram were recorded in 14 (8F/6M) PVS patients. Clinical scoring was based on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and Coma Rating Scale (CRS). The Wavelet Transform, followed by Hilbert transform was applied to the EEG and gamma power distribution was quantified relative to the timing of an eye movement. We correlated the clinical and the neurophysiological measures. RESULTS: Gamma activity was present in all PVS patients. Its power was modulated in association with eye movements only in less severely affected patients, with minimum power prior to, and maximum power during the eye movement. In severely affected patients there was no evidence of a temporal relationship between gamma power and the phase of the eye movement. CONCLUSIONS: Detecting changes in the time course of gamma power in relation to conjugate ballistic eye movements provides a quantitative neurophysiological method for prospective longitudinal studies to explore if the preservation of this CNS function relates to the potential for recovery in PVS patients.

Adult↗

A method for automatic identification of saccades from eye movement recordings.

We describe a technique for reliable and rapid automatic identification of saccades in eye movement records. The signal processing that we describe will be useful to anyone wanting to analyse large numbers (thousands) of eye movements. We describe a transform that is derived from the differentiated eye movement record, and which is related to a transform previously used to automate analysis of EMG recordings.

Electromyography↗

Characteristics of saccadic eye movements in attentionally handicapped patients.

Some characteristics of saccadic eye movements were investigated electro-oculographically in hemiplegic attentionally handicapped patients and normal subjects under stationary and moving target situations. The velocity of saccadic eye movements was greater and the duration shorter in hemiplegic than in normal subjects. Greater variability of angular velocity and amplitude functions, and of duration and amplitude functions was found among hemiplegic subjects than among normal. The results were explained, in part, by possible differences in the strength of extra-ocular muscle contraction, variables associated with inhibitory control and learning variables.

Adolescent↗

Eye movements induced by lateral acceleration steps. Effect of visual context and acceleration levels.

Eye movement responses were obtained from six normal subjects exposed to randomly ordered rightwards/leftwards linear acceleration steps of 0.05 g, 0.1 g or 0.24 g amplitude and 650 ms duration along the interaural axis. With the instruction to gaze passively into the darkness, compensatory nystagmus was evoked with slow-phase velocity sensitivity of 49 degrees s(-1) g(-1). When subjects viewed earth-fixed targets at 30 cm, 60 cm or 280 cm, eye movements at 130 ms from motion onset were proportional to acceleration and inversely proportional to target distance, before the onset of visually guided eye movements. Our results show that a modulation with viewing distances of the earliest human otolith-ocular reflexes occurs in the presence of pure linear acceleration. However, full compensation was not attained for the nearer targets and higher accelerations.

Acceleration↗

Stimulation in the rostral pole of monkey superior colliculus: effects on vergence eye movements.

Recent studies have indicated that the superior colliculus (SC), traditionally considered to be saccade-related, may play a role in the coding of eye movements in both direction and depth. Similarly, it has been suggested that omnidirectional pause neurons are not only involved in the initiation of saccades, but can also modulate vergence eye movements. These new developments provide a challenge for current oculomotor models that attempt to describe saccade-vergence coordination and the neural mechanisms that may be involved. In this paper, we have attempted to study these aspects further by investigating the role of the rostral pole of the SC in the control of vergence eye movements. It is well-known that, by applying long-duration electrical stimulation to rostral sites in the monkey SC, saccadic responses can be prevented and interrupted. We have made use of these properties to extend this paradigm to eye movements that contain a substantial depth component. We found that electrical intervention in the rostral region also has a clear effect on vergence. For an eye movement to a near target, stimulation leads to a significant suppression and change in dynamics of the pure vergence response during the period of stimulation, but the depth component cannot be prevented entirely. When these paradigms are implemented for 3D refixations, the saccade is inactivated, as expected, while the vergence component is often suppressed more than in the case of the pure vergence. The data lead us to conclude that the rostral SC, presumably indirectly via connections with the pause neurons, can affect vergence control for both pure vergence and combined 3D responses. Suppression of the depth component is incomplete, in contrast to the directional movement, and is often different in magnitude for 3D refixations and pure vergence responses. The results are discussed in connection with current models for saccade-vergence interaction.

Animals↗

Infant eye movement asymmetries: temporal-nasal asymmetry is reversed at isoluminance in 2-month-olds.

Tested monocularly with luminance-modulated stimuli, young infants classically show a directional asymmetry of eye movements: optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) and OKN-like eye movements are more reliably elicited by temporo-nasally- (T-N) than by naso-temporally- (N-T) directed stimuli. In the present experiment, 2-month-old infants were tested with isoluminant red-green gratings. A reverse asymmetry was found: at isoluminance, directionally appropriate eye movements were more readily elicited by N-T- than by T-N-directed stimuli. The results suggest the presence of a reverse asymmetry in the ensemble of direction-selective neurons that controls young infants' immature eye movements in response to isoluminant stimuli.

Color Perception↗

Aging effects upon pursuit eye movements.

Quantitative assessment of aging effects upon pursuit eye movements was done in step-ramp stimulus conditions using 32 normal individuals. Eye movements were recorded with infrared reflection oculography. The target was a spot of 0.5 degree red lazar light. The light spot was blanked for 5 ms while the mirror galvanometer moved to a new position. Eye and target position were sampled at 250 Hz and analysed by a personal computer. In onward stimulation in which 2 degrees, 4 degrees, 6 degrees and 8 degrees position steps were followed by fixed ramp speed (10 degrees/s), and also in backward stimulation in which 2 degrees, 4 degrees, 6 degrees step positions were followed by 9 degrees, 17 degrees and 27 degrees/s, eye acceleration increased depending upon increase of retinal slip velocity in the younger group below 49 years. Among the factors effecting aging effects, the cerebrum might be important because visual recognition and eye acceleration are performed in the parietal lobe.

Adult↗