Abstract
In the temporal proximity of a saccade, visual attention can be predictively remapped, anticipating future retinal locations of the stimulus (Rolfs et al, 2011). Here we show that the perceptual strategies associated with pre-saccadic processing are not just related to the retinal location of the stimulus, but also take into account the spatial layout of pre- and post-saccadic information. We used a classification image paradigm and a stimulus layout in which eccentricity matched locations had different valences for the task of detecting a perisaccadic signal. In a yes/no task, observers detected a bright Gaussian blob presented for 30 ms that was embedded in white noise. The blobs were presented at different times relative to saccadic onset in one of six spatial locations. On each trial, the saccadic direction was randomly cued (North, East, South, West) and a homogeneous allocation of spatial attention across the six locations was ensured by randomizing the location tested (with post-stimulus response cue). We estimated perceptual templates for each location tested for pre-saccadic (-200 to -60 ms from saccadic onset), peri-saccadic, (-60 to 0 ms) or post-saccadic stimuli (0 to 100 ms). Around the time of the saccade, templates were weighted with a specific temporal dynamic, revealing predictive remapping in peri-saccadic conditions by showing facilitation for both the future possible retinal locations of the target and other extra-foveal locations outside of the saccadic trajectory. Critically, the templates revealed different weighting for two eccentricity matched locations based on whether they were processed by retinal locations that would fall in a possible target location after the saccade or not. This suggests that predictive remapping might be a general mechanism not only for retinal locations associated with destinations of future saccades but also at extrafoveal locations that will fall (after the saccade) in possible future target locations.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2012