Microsaccade dynamics during covert attention

• Published in: Vision research (Oxford) Vol. 45; no. 6; pp. 721 - 730
• Main Authors: Laubrock, Jochen, Engbert, Ralf, Kliegl, Reinhold
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-03-2005; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Activity levels. Psychomotricity; Attention; Attention - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Color Perception - physiology; Cues; Eye movements; Fixation; Fixation, Ocular - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Perception; Photic Stimulation - methods; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reaction Time; Saccades - physiology; Vigilance. Attention. Sleep; Vision; Vision, Binocular - physiology; Visual Perception - physiology; Reaction time; Fixation; Eye movements; Attention; Human; Vigilance; Visual stimulus; Visual fixation; Experimental study; Visual attention; Saccadic eye movement
• ISSN: 0042-6989; 1878-5646
• DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2004.09.029

We compared effects of covert spatial-attention shifts induced with exogenous or endogenous cues on microsaccade rate and direction. Separate and dissociated effects were obtained in rate and direction measures. Display changes caused microsaccade rate inhibition, followed by sustained rate enhancement. Effects on microsaccade direction were differentially tied to cue class (exogenous vs. endogenous) and type (neutral vs. directional). For endogenous cues, direction effects were weak and occurred late. Exogenous cues caused a fast direction bias towards the cue (i.e., early automatic triggering of saccade programs), followed by a shift in the opposite direction (i.e, controlled inhibition of cue-directed saccades, leading to a ‘leakage’ of microsaccades in the opposite direction).