The effect of eye movements and blinks on afterimage appearance and duration

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of vision (Charlottesville, Va.) Va.), 2015-03, Vol.15 (3), p.20
Main Authors: Powell, Georgina, Sumner, Petroc, Bompas, Aline
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Afterimage - physiology
Blinking - physiology
Female
Humans
Light
Male
Pursuit, Smooth - physiology
Saccades - physiology
Time Factors
Visual Perception - physiology
Young Adult
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Summary: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.
ISSN:1534-7362
1534-7362
DOI:10.1167/15.3.20