Abstract
Trans-saccadic correspondence is the process by which pre-saccadic, peripheral visual targets and post-saccadic, near-foveal visual targets are matched. One hypothesis suggests that each saccade toward a target is followed, once the saccade lands, by a search for the best match, typically the target closest to the landing position. This process, the landmark effect, recalibrates the spatial coordinate frame and so supports visual constancy (Deubel et al., 1996, 1998). In this study, we investigated whether this post-saccadic search is related to classic feature-based visual search. Specifically, we measured whether the features of the saccade target speeded a subsequent visual search for the same target. Participants maintained central fixation during the presentation of a peripheral target, and then performed a visual search task. In the saccade condition, the target disappeared and a visual search array appeared around the landing position. In the fixation condition, the peripheral target disappeared while the visual search array appeared around the fixation point. The visual search target could either be congruent or incongruent with the peripheral target. Preliminary results show no benefit of congruency between peripheral and visual search targets in either condition. This suggests that the search for the saccade target on landing does not call on processes in common with standard feature-based visual search. On the contrary, we found that reaction time in a conjunction search (but not in a disjunction search) may be slower when a saccade is performed, suggesting that a preceding saccade impedes visual search.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2014