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Refixation control in free viewing : a specialized mechanism divulged by eye-movement-related brain activity

Nikolaev, Andrey R LU orcid ; Meghanathan, Radha Nila and van Leeuwen, Cees (2018) In Journal of Neurophysiology 120(5). p.2311-2324
Abstract

In free viewing, the eyes return to previously visited locations rather frequently, even though the attentional and memory-related processes controlling eye-movement show a strong antirefixation bias. To overcome this bias, a special refixation triggering mechanism may have to be recruited. We probed the neural evidence for such a mechanism by combining eye tracking with EEG recording. A distinctive signal associated with refixation planning was observed in the EEG during the presaccadic interval: the presaccadic potential was reduced in amplitude before a refixation compared with normal fixations. The result offers direct evidence for a special refixation mechanism that operates in the saccade planning stage of eye movement control.... (More)

In free viewing, the eyes return to previously visited locations rather frequently, even though the attentional and memory-related processes controlling eye-movement show a strong antirefixation bias. To overcome this bias, a special refixation triggering mechanism may have to be recruited. We probed the neural evidence for such a mechanism by combining eye tracking with EEG recording. A distinctive signal associated with refixation planning was observed in the EEG during the presaccadic interval: the presaccadic potential was reduced in amplitude before a refixation compared with normal fixations. The result offers direct evidence for a special refixation mechanism that operates in the saccade planning stage of eye movement control. Once the eyes have landed on the revisited location, acquisition of visual information proceeds indistinguishably from ordinary fixations. NEW & NOTEWORTHY A substantial proportion of eye fixations in human natural viewing behavior are revisits of recently visited locations, i.e., refixations. Our recently developed methods enabled us to study refixations in a free viewing visual search task, using combined eye movement and EEG recording. We identified in the EEG a distinctive refixation-related signal, signifying a control mechanism specific to refixations as opposed to ordinary eye fixations.

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author
; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Adolescent, Adult, Brain/physiology, Female, Fixation, Ocular, Humans, Male, Saccades
in
Journal of Neurophysiology
volume
120
issue
5
pages
14 pages
publisher
American Physiological Society
external identifiers
  • scopus:85055997034
  • pmid:30110230
ISSN
0022-3077
DOI
10.1152/jn.00121.2018
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
0d8eb744-5048-4b56-896c-d55251736ec2
date added to LUP
2019-10-21 19:24:44
date last changed
2024-01-16 14:42:04
@article{0d8eb744-5048-4b56-896c-d55251736ec2,
  abstract     = {{<p>In free viewing, the eyes return to previously visited locations rather frequently, even though the attentional and memory-related processes controlling eye-movement show a strong antirefixation bias. To overcome this bias, a special refixation triggering mechanism may have to be recruited. We probed the neural evidence for such a mechanism by combining eye tracking with EEG recording. A distinctive signal associated with refixation planning was observed in the EEG during the presaccadic interval: the presaccadic potential was reduced in amplitude before a refixation compared with normal fixations. The result offers direct evidence for a special refixation mechanism that operates in the saccade planning stage of eye movement control. Once the eyes have landed on the revisited location, acquisition of visual information proceeds indistinguishably from ordinary fixations. NEW &amp; NOTEWORTHY A substantial proportion of eye fixations in human natural viewing behavior are revisits of recently visited locations, i.e., refixations. Our recently developed methods enabled us to study refixations in a free viewing visual search task, using combined eye movement and EEG recording. We identified in the EEG a distinctive refixation-related signal, signifying a control mechanism specific to refixations as opposed to ordinary eye fixations.</p>}},
  author       = {{Nikolaev, Andrey R and Meghanathan, Radha Nila and van Leeuwen, Cees}},
  issn         = {{0022-3077}},
  keywords     = {{Adolescent; Adult; Brain/physiology; Female; Fixation, Ocular; Humans; Male; Saccades}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{2311--2324}},
  publisher    = {{American Physiological Society}},
  series       = {{Journal of Neurophysiology}},
  title        = {{Refixation control in free viewing : a specialized mechanism divulged by eye-movement-related brain activity}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/jn.00121.2018}},
  doi          = {{10.1152/jn.00121.2018}},
  volume       = {{120}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}