title: Non-linear retinal processing supports invariance during fixational eye movements.
abstract: Fixational eye movements can rapidly shift the retinal image, but typically remain unnoticed. We identify and simulate a model mechanism for the suppression of erroneous motion signals under fixational eye movements. This mechanism exploits the non-linearities common to many classes of large retinal ganglion cells in the mammalian retina, and negates the need for extra-retinal signals or explicit gaze information. When tested using natural images undergoing simulated fixational eye movements, our model successfully distinguishes "real world" motion from retinal motion induced by eye movements. In addition, this model suggests a possible explanation for several fixational eye movement related visual illusions such as the Ouchi-Spillmann and "Out-of-focus" illusions.
authors.affiliation: Department Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Munich, Germany. Electronic address: greene@bio.lmu.de.
authors.forename: Garrett
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Greene
authors.affiliation: Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Munich, Germany; Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Centre, Göttingen, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gollisch
authors.affiliation: Department Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wachtler
mesh_terms: D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D009903:Optical Illusions / Q000502:physiology; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Fixational eye movement; Gaze-invariance; Invariance; Motion; Ouchi illusion; Parasol; Retinal ganglion cell; Stabilisation; Y cell