Center Calendar
"From fixation to exploration: towards an integrative view of oculomotor function", Susana Martinez-Conde (SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Department of Ophthalmology)
Tuesday, April 20, 2021, 01:00pm
via Zoom EST: Email Jason Geller at
Susana Martinez-Conde's Website
Abstract: During visual exploration, saccadic eye movements scan the scene for objects of interest. During attempted fixation, the eyes are relatively still but often produce microsaccades. Though exploration and fixation have traditionally been regarded as two distinct oculomotor behaviors, an alternative model is that fixation and exploration are not dichotomous, but the two extremes of a functional continuum. Here I will present data, from healthy subjects as well as patients suffering from neurological disease, supporting the view that visual fixation is functionally equivalent to visual exploration on a spatially focused scale. I will also discuss my lab’s research using microsaccade production to better understand the role of area V1 in the perceptual distinction between self-motion and world-motion. Finally, I will present our latest findings on what oculomotor behavior might reveal about the perception of art.
Readings:
- Microsaccades mediate perceptual alternations in Monet's "Impression, sunrise".
Alexander RG, Venkatakrishnan A, Chanovas J, Macknik SL, Martinez-Conde S. Sci Rep. 2021 Feb 11;11(1):3612. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-82222-3. - V1 neurons respond differently to object motion versus motion from eye movements.
Troncoso XG, McCamy MB, Jazi AN, Cui J, Otero-Millan J, Macknik SL, Costela FM, Martinez-Conde S. Nat Commun. 2015 Sep 15;6:8114. doi: 10.1038/ncomms9114. - An oculomotor continuum from exploration to fixation.
Otero-Millan J, Macknik SL, Langston RE, Martinez-Conde S. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Apr 9;110(15):6175-80. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1222715110.
