title: The influence of structured visual backgrounds on smooth-pursuit initiation, steady-state pursuit and smooth-pursuit termination.
abstract: Smooth-pursuit eye movements were recorded in two rhesus monkeys in order to compare the influence of structured visual backgrounds on smooth-pursuit initiation, steady-state pursuit and pursuit termination. Different target trajectories were used in order to study smooth-pursuit initiation and termination. The influence of visual backgrounds on pursuit initiation was characterized by recording ocular responses elicited by step-ramp target displacements starting from straight ahead. Pursuit termination was characterized by analysing the transition from steady-state smooth-pursuit to fixation when a centripetally directed target ramp was terminated by a small target step in the direction of the ramp as soon as the target had come close to the straightahead position. The quantification of steady-state pursuit was based on ocular responses elicited by either paradigm. In accordance with previous work, we found that the onset of smooth-pursuit eye movements was delayed and initial eye acceleration reduced in the presence of a structured visual background. Likewise, mean eye velocity during steady-state pursuit was reduced by structured visual backgrounds. However, neither the latency nor the time course of smooth-pursuit termination was altered when the homogeneous background was replaced by a structured visual background. The lack of sensitivity of pursuit termination to the presence of visual structured backgrounds supports a previous contention that pursuit termination is mediated by a process which is different from the ones mediating smooth-pursuit initiation and steady-state pursuit. The absence of any noticeable effect of structured backgrounds on pursuit termination suggests that at least the fast component of the optokinetic reflex is suppressed during pursuit termination.
authors.affiliation: Sektion für Visuelle Sensomotorik, Neurologische Universitätsklinik, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mohrmann
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thier
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D008253:Macaca mulatta / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D011698:Pursuit, Smooth / Q000502:physiology*