title: DYNAMICAL COMPLEXITY ANALYSIS OF SACCADIC EYE MOVEMENTS IN TWO DIFFERENT PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS.
abstract: Saccadic eye movements of a normal subject were assessed through semi-quantitative analysis algorithms based on linear and non-linear test application in order to highlight the dynamics type characterizing saccadic neural system behavior. These movements were recorded during a simple visually-guided saccade test and one with a cognitive load involving button pressing to show a decision. Following the application of specific computational tests, chaotic dynamical trend dominancy was mostly revealed with some differences between the two saccade recording conditions: auto-correlation time was increased from 170 to 240 by cognitive task superposition and the Hurst exponent was enhanced from 0.52 to 0.76, denoting more persistence in the dynamics of saccadic system during increased neural activity related to cognitive task.
authors.affiliation: University "Alexandru Ioan Cuza", Faculty of Physics, Laboratory of Biophysics & Medical Physics, 11 Bd. Carol I, 700506, Iasi, Romania.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aştefănoaei
authors.affiliation: University "Alexandru Ioan Cuza", Faculty of Physics, Laboratory of Biophysics & Medical Physics, 11 Bd. Carol I, 700506, Iasi, Romania.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Creangă
authors.affiliation: University of Siena, Department of Medicine Surgery and Neuroscience, Eye-tracking &Visual Application Lab EVALab, Siena 53100, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pretegiani
authors.affiliation: National Eye Institute, Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Optican
authors.affiliation: University of Siena, Department of Medicine Surgery and Neuroscience, Eye-tracking &Visual Application Lab EVALab, Siena 53100, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rufa
keywords: chaos theory; computational tests; infrared eye tracking system; visually guided saccades