The psychophysics of the pursuit oculomotor system.
When a fixation point moves under a row of identical targets at a speed of one target for each flash of a strobe, smooth apparent movement of the targets is seen (the "picket-fence illusion"). When the fixation point is removed, the eye continues to pursue the apparent target movement. Pursuit continues through small changes in target configuration, but is interrupted by a change to a very dissimilar target (such as 1 vs. x) in the middle of a row. This new method, the "pursuit-interruption method," showed that large differences in the number of pixels in a line did not interrupt tracking if the end points of the line were preserved. Pursuit interruption by changes in line orientation (such as /vs./) corresponded to the orientation bandwidth of orientation-sensitive cortical neurons. The maximum number of consecutive missing targets that does not interrupt pursuit depends on frequency of target presentation as well as on parameters of the pursuit system.
Bridgeman
B
B
D001288:Attention; D005133:Eye Movements; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D009039:Motion Perception; D009903:Optical Illusions; D009949:Orientation; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011601:Psychophysics; D011698:Pursuit, Smooth