Attention and sensory integration in active vision of moving objects

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Martin Rolfs
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2017 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 383514233

• Final Report Year: 2023

Final Report Abstract

Vision is highly selective – only a fraction of the information that stimulates the retina influences movement control or reaches conscious perception. The preparation and execution of rapid eye movements (saccades) has a strong impact on this selection, increasing visual sensitivity at the saccade target while reducing it at other locations (presaccadic attention shift). The goal of this project was to investigate predictive presaccadic processes in dynamic scenes. Predictions should be more critical in dynamic compared to static scenes: To accurately execute eye movements to moving targets, the oculomotor system must take into account neural latencies between the retina and the eye muscles. The project had three main objectives. We wanted to understand, (1), the ability to intercept moving objects with saccadic gaze shifts, (2) the role of presaccadic attention in this process, and, (3), how we keep track of moving objects when rapid eye movements radically shift their locations on the retina. We addressed these objectives in three subprojects. First, motion information is indeed taken into account during saccade preparation: The perception of a stimulus’ position is informed by the latency of a saccadic eye movement to that stimulus even in the absence of the saccade itself. Second, motion at the target of a saccade leads to an automatic postsaccadic following response that tracks the stimulus upon saccade landing. Presaccadic attention plays a key role in predictively guiding these eye movements. Third, foveal vision anticipates defining features of an eye movement target (its orientation or motion), enabling a smooth perceptual transition across fixations. Moreover, foveal vision assumes the resolution available at the saccade target. Finally, motion signals at the saccade target alter presaccadic foveal perception and drive predictive gaze responses. Together, these results uncover the key role of predictive processes in active vision of dynamic scenes.

Publications

• Motion Extrapolation for Eye Movements Predicts Perceived Motion-Induced Position Shifts. The Journal of Neuroscience, 38(38), 8243-8250.
  van Heusden, Elle; Rolfs, Martin; Cavanagh, Patrick & Hogendoorn, Hinze
  
• Presaccadic motion integration drives a predictive postsaccadic following response. Journal of Vision, 19(11), 12.
  Kwon, Sunwoo; Rolfs, Martin & Mitchell, Jude F.
  
• van der Stigchel, S. How Attention Works. Perception, 49(7), 796-797.
  Kroell, Lisa M. & Rolfs, Martin
  
• Foveal vision anticipates defining features of eye movement targets. eLife, 11.
  Kroell, Lisa M. & Rolfs, Martin
  
• The peripheral sensitivity profile at the saccade target reshapes during saccade preparation. Cortex, 139, 12–26.
  Kroell, Lisa M. & Rolfs, Martin
  
• The magnitude and time course of pre-saccadic foveal prediction depend on the conspicuity of the saccade target. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.
  Kroell, Lisa M. & Rolfs, Martin