Volume 3, Number 11, Article 10, Pages 761-770 doi:10.1167/3.11.10 http://journalofvision.org/3/11/10/ ISSN 1534-7362
Smooth anticipatory eye movements alter the memorized position of flashed targets
Gunnar Blohm
Center for Systems Engineering and Applied Mechanics and Laboratory of Neurophysiology, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
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Marcus Missal
Laboratory of Neurophysiology, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
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Philippe Lefèvre
Center for Systems Engineering and Applied Mechanics and Laboratory of Neurophysiology, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
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Abstract

Briefly flashed visual stimuli presented during smooth object- or self-motion are systematically mislocalized. This phenomenon is called the “flash-lag effect” (Nijhawan, 1994). All previous studies had one common characteristic, the subject’s sense of motion. Here we asked whether motion perception is a necessary condition for the flash-lag effect to occur. In our first experiment, we briefly flashed a target during smooth anticipatory eye movements in darkness and subjects had to orient their gaze toward the perceived flash position. Subjects reported to have no sense of eye motion during anticipatory movements. In our second experiment, subjects had to adjust a cursor on the perceived position of the flash. As a result, we show that gaze orientation reflects the actual perceived flash position. Furthermore, a flash-lag effect is present despite the absence of motion perception. Moreover, the time course of gaze orientation shows that the flash-lag effect appeared immediately after the egocentric to allocentric reference frame transformation.

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History
Received March 21, 2003; published December 4, 2003
Citation
Blohm, G., Missal, M., & Lefèvre, P. (2003). Smooth anticipatory eye movements alter the memorized position of flashed targets. Journal of Vision, 3(11):10, 761-770, http://journalofvision.org/3/11/10/, doi:10.1167/3.11.10.
Keywords
anticipation, smooth pursuit, saccades, localization, flash perception, flash-lag effect
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