A mechanism for suppression of optokinesis

doi:10.1016/0042-6989(84)90027-0

Vision Research

Volume 24, Issue 12, 1984, Pages 1931-1945

https://doi.org/10.1016/0042-6989(84)90027-0 Get rights and content

Abstract

We have studied optokinetic responses to oscillating patterns of dots, and the suppression of these responses by a foveally stabilized target. Such a target suppressed most of the optokinetic response, although the target provided neither retinal target motion nor target offset from the fovea. This indicates that suppression of OKN can occur by other means than smooth pursuit eye movements to traditional stimuli. We studied the form of the suppression for different optokinetic stimulus strengths and stimulus frequencies (0.25–1.0 Hz). The results show that over this frequency range the optokinetic response is substantial, and also that the suppression continues to operate. We also examined the time-course of suppression: it begins to appear within 150–200 msec of the appearance of a fixation target in motion relative to the optokinetic stimulus field.

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Cited by (26)

How visual background motion and task difficulty modulate players' performance in a shooting task
2015, Displays
Citation Excerpt :
Therefore, moving backgrounds decrease performance in tasks that are rather simple, namely tasks that involve transient presentations of stationary items and do not mobilize many attentional resources. However, moving visual backgrounds do not always have a negative impact on performance, most likely because human observers are able to voluntarily suppress the OKN by fixating any visual item that is superimposed on the moving background e.g., [19,29–31]. Menozzi and Koga [32] compared how people read a text displayed on a laterally moving, patterned background to a fixed version of the same background.
In many virtual environments, such as those of video games, the scene background moves to give the illusion of movement. In the present study, two experiments were designed to investigate the combined impact of lateral background motion and task difficulty on players’ performance in a target-shooting task. Participants had to perform the task on either the moving or the stationary version of a patterned background that was either green (Experiment 1) or black-and-white (Experiment 2). The difficulty of the task was manipulated by varying the number of visual features shared between the target and distractor items. In accordance with the literature, the participants’ performance was worse, and the number and duration of participants’ fixations increased when the task was difficult. Background motion had an additive, negative impact on performance. When the background was black-and-white, background motion had an impact only when the task was easy but not when it was difficult. Design recommendations based on manipulations of the background characteristics are proposed to establish the level of difficulty in simple video games that use lateral background motion.
Instruction dependent activation during optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) stimulation: An FMRI study at 3 T
2010, Brain Research
Citation Excerpt :
In the present study, a 30 × 11° stimulus field was used and the possibility exists that with a small field, stare instructions may have caused OKN suppression to occur. OKN suppression is reflected by a loss of slow phase eye movement in the direction of stimulus motion together with a decrease in the number of oppositely-directed quick phases (Wyatt and Pola, 1984, 1988; Pola et al., 1992). However, previous OKN suppression studies (Dieterich et al., 1998, 2000) had to add a fixation point in the stimulus field in order to suppress OKN.
Modifying experimental conditions of optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) result in different outcomes and may not optimally translate into clinical testing. The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of subject instruction on the anatomical correlates of OKN. The instructions were to voluntarily look or stare at the same moving grating with fixed contrast and spatial and temporal frequencies. Look and stare OKN were generated under identical stimulus “ON” conditions (vertical sine wave grating of 1.14 c/deg drifting right to left at 11.4 c/s with binocular viewing). FMRI was undertaken utilizing a 3.0 T GE system and the BOLD technique. Subjects included 6 normal adults ranging in age from 18 to 54 years with normal visual acuity (20/20 or better) and normal stereoacuity (40 s of arc or better). The results reveal that look OKN generated significantly more cortical FMRI activation than stare OKN. Look OKN areas included the culmen, parahippocampal, lingual, middle temporal gyri, inferior and superior parietal lobules and precuneus, all of which were unilaterally activated in the left hemisphere. The middle occipital gyrus was unilaterally activated in the right hemisphere while the cuneus was bilaterally activated. These results show that the activation sites for OKN studies are dependent on subject instruction which influence the type of OKN generated. Specifically, voluntary look OKN involved more brain sites than stare OKN. In so doing, we illustrate the importance of subject instruction and recommend that FMRI investigators of OKN be cognizant of these effects. The anatomical correlates of the look versus stare are discussed.
Ocular fixation, vestibular dysfunction, and visual motion hypersensitivity
2009, Optometry
A subgroup of individuals with vestibular dysfunction and visual motion hypersensitivity (VMH) become dizzy and imbalanced in response to movement of the visual environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate ocular fixational stability during gaze on a target, with and without visual background movement. Binocular vision functions were also examined as possible contributory factors to the dizziness and imbalance.
Twenty-four individuals with VMH, 20 with vestibular disorders without VMH and 20 healthy subjects were tested. Assignment to the experimental group was by symptoms of VMH. Outcome measures included electro-oculogram recordings of horizontal fixation and blink. Four clinical binocular vision functions were also tested. The Dizziness Handicap Inventory was used to assess the level of dizziness.
Subjects with VMH made significantly more refixational eye movements and had higher levels of dizziness than those in the other 2 diagnostic groups. There were abnormalities of binocular function in both the VMH and vestibular dysfunction groups compared with the control group. Individuals with VMH were unable to maintain stable gaze and inhibit eye movements to background motion. The large number of subjects with diagnosis of fluctuating vestibular function in the VMH group compared with the vestibular dysfunction group may indicate that VMH is a maladaptation of the system.
Contextual effects on motion perception and smooth pursuit eye movements
2008, Brain Research
Citation Excerpt :
Such context-induced retinal image motion drives a passive pursuit or slow-phase optokinetic response into the opposite direction. In order to smoothly track the target, the OKN has to be suppressed (Lindner and Ilg, 2006; Worfolk and Barnes, 1992; Wyatt and Pola, 1984), possibly causing the delay in initiating pursuit. For moving backgrounds, most studies provide evidence for a spatial averaging of motion signals (motion assimilation).
Smooth pursuit eye movements are continuous, slow rotations of the eyes that allow us to follow the motion of a visual object of interest. These movements are closely related to sensory inputs from the visual motion processing system. To track a moving object in the natural environment, its motion first has to be segregated from the motion signals provided by surrounding stimuli. Here, we review experiments on the effect of the visual context on motion processing with a focus on the relationship between motion perception and smooth pursuit eye movements. While perception and pursuit are closely linked, we show that they can behave quite distinctly when required by the visual context.
Suppression of optokinesis during smooth pursuit eye movements revisited: The role of extra-retinal information
2006, Vision Research
When our eyes track objects that are moving in a richly structured environment, the retinal image of the stationary visual scene inevitably moves over the retina in a direction opposite to the eye movement. Such self-motion-induced global retinal slip usually provides an ideal stimulus for the optokinetic reflex. This reflex operates to compensate for global image flow. However, during smooth pursuit eye movements it must be shut down so that the reflex does not counteract the voluntary pursuit of moving targets. Here, we asked if retinal information is sufficient for this cancellation of the optokinetic reflex during smooth pursuit eye movements. In a series of experiments, we show that neither the eye movement-induced retinal image motion per se nor the relative motion between the pursuit target and the background are sufficient for suppression of optokinesis. We, therefore, conclude that extra-retinal information about smooth pursuit eye movements is required for the cancellation of the optokinetic reflex.
Modulation of spatial attention with unidirectional field motion: An implication for the shift of the OKN beating field
2001, Vision Research
During optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) the mean eye position of gaze (the beating field) shifts in the direction of the fast phases. The function of this shift may be to re-orient the eyes in the direction of self-motion which optic flow implies (in-coming field). This idea leads to the hypothesis that visual attention may be directed toward the In-coming field. In Experiment 1, subjects detected a visual flash presented against unidirectional field motion. The OKN beating field was shifted toward the In-coming field, and manual reaction times were shorter when the target appeared in the In-coming field. Experiment 2 revealed that this In-coming field advantage occurred even when OKN (and thus the mean eye-position shift) was suppressed. Subsequent experiments showed that the In-coming field advantage is not due to a local motion interaction (Experiment 3), survives subject's voluntary allocation of attention (Experiment 4), and develops over less than 320 ms after the onset of the motion field (Experiment 5). These results suggest that unidirectional field motion tends to automatically shift visual attention toward the In-coming field.

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View full text

A mechanism for suppression of optokinesis

Abstract

Vision Res.

Vision Res.

Vision Res.

Invest. Ophthal. visual Sci., ARVO Abstr. Suppl.

Invest. Ophthal. visual Sci.

Human optokinetic responses under quasi-open and closed loop conditions

Biol. Cybernet.

Untersuchungen uber optokinetischen Nystagmus

Archs Neerb. Physiol.

Movements of the Eyes

Optokinetic nystagmus during selective retinal stimulation

Expl Brain Res.

Quantitative analysis of the velocity characteristics of optokinetic nystagmus and optokinetic after-nystagmus

J. Physiol.

Uber induzierte Bewegung (Ein Bietrag zur Theorie optisch whargenommener Bewegung)

Psychol. Forsch.

A Source Book of Gestalt Psychology