Coupling perception to action through incidental sensory consequences of motor behaviour

Rolfs, Martin; Schweitzer, Richard

doi:10.1038/s44159-021-00015-x

Cited by 45 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 227 publications

(301 reference statements)

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“…In all, our results highlight the importance of investigating active vision 41 in the SC 42 and in other visual areas 18,43,44 , whether by careful analysis of the image consequences of eye movements on the retina with stable targets (as in Fig. 7) or by experimentally altering the normal visual-motor loop by gaze-contingent manipulation (as in Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Superior colliculus visual neural sensitivity at the lower limit of natural self-induced image displacements

Hafed

Chen

Khademi

2022

Preprint

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Visual pattern analysis relies on computations from neurons possessing spatially confined receptive fields. Often, such receptive fields are orders of magnitude larger than the visual pattern components being processed, as well as these components’ minute displacements on the retina, whether due to small object or self motions. Yet, perception effortlessly handles such visual conditions. Here, we show that in the primate superior colliculus, a brain structure long associated with oculomotor control, neurons with relatively large receptive fields are still sensitive to visual pattern displacements as small as 1 min arc. We used real-time gaze-contingent retinal image stabilization to control the instantaneous spatio-temporal luminance modulation of detailed patterns experienced by neurons, probing sensitivity to the lower limit of natural self-induced image displacements. Despite a large difference between pattern displacement amplitudes and receptive field sizes, collicular neurons were strongly sensitive to the visual pattern consequences of the smallest possible eye movements.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Superior colliculus visual neural sensitivity at the lower limit of natural self-induced image displacements

Hafed

Chen

Khademi

2022

Preprint

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“…It is conceivable that increasing the conspicuity of the target by reducing its eccentricity or transparency against the background noise would trigger the saccadic system to a larger extent and thereby boost congruency effects during fixation. In general, strong evidence that foveal prediction serves saccade preparation and, due to existing neuronal connections, spills over to any fixation task would be provided if the oculomotor characteristics of individual observers (such as their typical saccade latency) influence properties of the foveal congruency effect (such as its time course) even during passive fixation ( Rolfs and Schweitzer, 2022 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foveal vision anticipates defining features of eye movement targets

Kroell

Rolfs

2022

eLife

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High-acuity foveal processing is vital for human vision. Nonetheless, little is known about how the preparation of large-scale rapid eye movements (saccades) affects visual sensitivity in the center of gaze. Based on findings from passive fixation tasks, we hypothesized that during saccade preparation, foveal processing anticipates soon-to-be fixated visual features. Using a dynamic large-field noise paradigm, we indeed demonstrate that defining features of an eye movement target are enhanced in the pre-saccadic center of gaze. Enhancement manifested as higher Hit Rates for foveal probes with target-congruent orientation and a sensitization to incidental, target-like orientation information in foveally presented noise. Enhancement was spatially confined to the center of gaze and its immediate vicinity, even after parafoveal task performance had been raised to a foveal level. Moreover, foveal enhancement during saccade preparation was more pronounced and developed faster than enhancement during passive fixation. Based on these findings, we suggest a crucial contribution of foveal processing to trans-saccadic visual continuity: Foveal processing of saccade targets commences before the movement is executed and thereby enables a seamless transition once the center of gaze reaches the target.

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“…Indeed, orientation contours in natural scenes are strongest for the horizontal and vertical directions ( Switkes et al, 1978 ). The saccade biases may be related directly to the statistics of natural scenes by increasing the power of parallel orientations in scenes during saccades ( Rolfs and Schweitzer, 2022 ). Others have found that natural scene statistics and neural representations of natural images are critical factors in guiding saccades and saccade amplitudes across species ( Samonds et al, 2018 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are many factors that likely contribute to the saccade direction bias, with oculomotor, neural, environmental, and behavioral origins. For example, purely horizontal saccades require the activation of fewer extraocular muscles and brain regions than saccades in other directions ( Leigh and Zee, 2015 ); scenes have prevalent cardinal (especially horizontal) contour orientation biases that influence perception and saccade directions ( Foulsham et al, 2008 ; Girshick et al, 2011 ; Raman and Sarkar, 2017 ; Rolfs and Schweitzer, 2022 ); and learned, directionally-biased behaviors such as reading may reinforce motor biases throughout the lifespan ( Abed, 1991 ; Van Renswoude et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%