title: The effect of eye movements and blinks on afterimage appearance and duration.
abstract: The question of whether eye movements influence afterimage perception has been asked since the 18th century, and yet there is surprisingly little consensus on how robust these effects are and why they occur. The number of historical theories aiming to explain the effects are more numerous than clear experimental demonstrations of such effects. We provide a clearer characterization of when eye movements and blinks do or do not affect afterimages with the aim to distinguish between historical theories and integrate them with a modern understanding of perception. We found neither saccades nor pursuit reduced strong afterimage duration, and blinks actually increased afterimage duration when tested in the light. However, for weak afterimages, we found saccades reduced duration, and blinks and pursuit eye movements did not. One interpretation of these results is that saccades diminish afterimage perception because they cause the afterimage to move unlike a real object. Furthermore, because saccades affect weak afterimages but not strong ones, we suggest that their effect is modulated by the ambiguity of the afterimage signal.
authors: School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK.
authors: Georgina
authors: G
authors: Powell
authors: School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK.
authors: Petroc
authors: P
authors: Sumner
authors: Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Centre Hospitalier Vinatier, Bron, Cedex, France.
authors: Aline
authors: A
authors: Bompas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000360:Afterimage / Q000502:physiology*; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D008297:Male; D011698:Pursuit, Smooth / Q000502:physiology; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: afterimages; blinks; pursuit; saccades