Abstract
We examined eye-movement latencies to a target that appeared during visual fixation of a stationary stimulus, a moving stimulus, or an extrafoveal stimulus. The stimulus at fixation was turned off either before target onset (gap condition) or after target onset (overlap condition). Consistent with previous research, saccadic latencies were shorter in gap conditions than they were in overlap conditions (the gap effect). In Experiment 1, a gap effect was observed for vergence eye movements. In Experiment 2, a gap effect was observed for saccades directed at a target that appeared during visual pursuit of a moving stimulus. In Experiment 3, a gap effect was observed for saccades directed at a target that appeared during extrafoveal fixation. The present results extend reports of the gap effect for saccadic shifts during visual fixation to (a) vergence shifts during visual fixation, (b) saccadic shifts during smooth visual pursuit, and (c) saccadic shifts during extrafoveal fixation. The present findings are discussed with respect to the incompatible goals of fixation-locking and fixation-shifting oculomotor responses.
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Some of the work reported here was based on a doctoral dissertation by the first author and was presented in 1988 at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. The work was supported by Grant A0296 awarded to H.O. by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
—Accepted by previous editor, Charles W. Eriksen
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Tam, W.J., Ono, H. Fixation disengagement and eye-movement latency. Perception & Psychophysics 56, 251–260 (1994). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209759
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209759