Summary: Ocular drift, or tiny eye movements that seem random can be influenced by prior knowledge of an expected visual target, researchers report.
Source: Weill Cornell University
A very subtle and seemingly random type of eye movement called ocular drift can be influenced by prior knowledge of the expected visual target, suggesting a surprising level of cognitive control over the eyes, according to a study led by Weill Cornell Medicine neuroscientists.
Thediscovery, described Apr. 3 inCurrent Biology, adds to the scientific understanding of how visionfar from being a mere absorption of incoming signals from the retinais controlled and directed by cognitive processes.
These eye movements are so tiny that were not even conscious of them, and yet our brains somehow can use the knowledge of the visual task to control them, says study lead author Dr. Yen-Chu Lin, who carried out the work as a Fred Plum Fellow in Systems Neurology and Neuroscience in the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Dr. Lin works in the laboratory of study senior authorDr. Jonathan Victor, the Fred Plum Professor of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine.
The study involved a close collaboration with the laboratory ofDr. Michele Rucci, professor of brain and cognitive sciences and neuroscience at the University of Rochester.
Neuroscientists have known for decades that information stored in memory can strongly shape the processing of sensory inputs, including the streams of visual data coming from the eyes. In other words, what we see is influenced by what we expect to see or the requirements of the task at hand.
Most studies of cognitive control over eye movement have covered more obvious movements, such as the saccade movements in which the eyes dart across large parts of the visual field. In the new study, Drs. Lin and Victor and their colleagues examined ocular drift, tiny jitters of the eye that occur even when gaze seems fixed.
Ocular drifts are subtle motions that shift a visual target on the retina by distances on the order of a fraction of a millimeter or soacross just a few dozen photoreceptors (cones).
They are thought to improve detection of small, stationary details in a visual scene by scanning across them, effectively converting spatial details into trains of visual signals in time.
Prior studies had suggested that ocular drift and other small-scale fixational eye movements are under cognitive control only in a broad sensefor example, slowing when scanning across more finely detailed scenes. In the new study, the researchers found evidence for a more precise type of control.
Using sensitive equipment in Dr. Ruccis laboratory, the researchers recorded ocular drifts in six volunteers who were asked to identify which of a pair of letters (H vs. N, or E vs. F) was being shown to them on a background of random visual noise.
Based on computational modeling, the scientists expected that optimal eye movements for discriminating between letters would cross the key elements distinguishing the letters at right angles.
Thus, they hypothesized that a more precise cognitive control, if it existed, would tend to direct ocular drift in both vertical and oblique (lower left to upper right) directions for the H vs. N discrimination, compared to more strictly vertical movements for the E vs. F discrimination.
They found that the subjects eye movements did indeed tend to follow these patternseven in the 20 percent of trials in which the subjects, though expecting to see a letter, were shown only noise. The latter result showed that the cognitive control of ocular drift could be driven solely by specific prior knowledge of the visual task, independently of any incoming visual information.
These results underscore the interrelationship between the sensory and the motor parts of visionone really cant view them separately, said Dr. Victor, who is also a professor of neuroscience in the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute at Weill Cornell.
He noted that the direction of fine eye movements is thought to come from neurons in the brainstem, whereas the task knowledge presumably resides in the upper brain: the corteximplying some kind of non-conscious connection between them.
The subjects are aware of the tasks they have to do, yet they dont know that their eyes are executing these tiny movements, even when you tell them, Dr. Victor said.
Studies of this pathway, he added, could lead to better insights not only into the neuroscience of vision, but possibly also visual disorderswhich traditionally have been seen as disorders of the retina or sensory processing within the brain.
What our findings suggest is that visual disorders may sometimes have a motor component too, since optimal vision depends on the brains ability to execute these very tiny movements, Dr. Victor said.
Author: Barbara PrempehSource: Weill Cornell UniversityContact: Barbara Prempeh Weill Cornell UniversityImage: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: Closed access.Cognitive influences on fixational eye movements by Jonathan Victor et al. Current Biology
Abstract
Cognitive influences on fixational eye movements
We perceive the world based on visual information acquired via oculomotor control,an activity intertwined with ongoing cognitive processes.Cognitive influences have been primarily studied in the context of macroscopic movements, like saccades and smooth pursuits. However, our eyes are never still, even during periods of fixation.
One of the fixational eye movements, ocular drifts, shifts the stimulus over hundreds of receptors on the retina, a motion that has been argued to enhance the processing of spatial detail by translating spatial into temporal information.Despite their apparent randomness, ocular drifts are under neural control.
However little is known about the control of drift beyond the brainstem circuitry of the vestibulo-ocular reflex.
Here, we investigated the cognitive control of ocular drifts with a letter discrimination task. The experiment was designed to reveal open-loop effects, i.e., cognitive oculomotor control driven by specific prior knowledge of the task, independent of incoming sensory information.
Open-loop influences were isolated by randomly presenting pure noise fields (no letters) while subjects engaged indiscriminating specific letter pairs.
Our results show open-loop control of drift direction in human observers.
Follow this link:
Tiny Eye Movements Are Under a Surprising Degree of Cognitive ... - Neuroscience News
- Neuroscience Says Music Is an Emotion Regulation Machine. Heres What to Play for Happiness, Productivity, or Deep Thinking - Inc.com - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Early Maternal Affection Shapes Key Personality Traits for Life - Neuroscience News - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Elons new neuroscience major highlighted by Greensboro News & Record - Elon University - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Brain Blast event at St. Lawrence University teaches local students neuroscience - North Country Now - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- AI Reveals What Keeps People Committed to Exercise - Neuroscience News - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- The "Holy Grail" of Neuroscience? Researchers Create Stunningly Accurate Digital Twin of the Brain - The Debrief - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Annenberg School Vice Dean Emily Falk publishes book on the neuroscience of decision-making - The Daily Pennsylvanian - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Music-Induced Chills Trigger Natural Opioids in the Brain - Neuroscience News - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change - think.kera.org - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Kile takes top neuroscience post at Sutter Health as system pushes to align care, expand trials - The Business Journals - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- A Grain of Brain, 523 Million Synapses, and the Most Complicated Neuroscience Experiment Ever Attempted - SciTechDaily - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Mild Brain Stimulation Alters Decision-Making Speed and Flexibility - Neuroscience News - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Cannabis studies were informing fundamental neuroscience in the 1970s - Nature - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- To make a meaningful contribution to neuroscience, fMRI must break out of its silo - The Transmitter - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Steve Jobss Unexpected Secret to Being More Creative (Backed by Neuroscience) - Inc.com - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Challenging Decades of Neuroscience: Brain Cells Are More Plastic Than Previously Thought - SciTechDaily - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Q&A: Lundbecks head of R&D on letting biology speak in neuroscience - Endpoints News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Why it's hard to study the neuroscience of psychedelics : Short Wave - NPR - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Fear Sync: How Males and Females Respond to Stress Together - Neuroscience News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Chemotherapy Disrupts Brain Connectivity - Neuroscience News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Newly awarded NIH grants for neuroscience lag 77 percent behind previous nine-year average - The Transmitter - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Wittstein interviewed by The Times News about new neuroscience major - Elon University - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Alto Neuroscience initiated with a Buy at H.C. Wainwright - Yahoo Finance - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- New map of brain hailed as watershed for neuroscience - The Times - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- GSK Ramps Up Neuroscience Investment With ABL Brain Shuttle Deal - insights.citeline.com - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- ADHD and Music: Why Background Beats May Boost Study Focus - Neuroscience News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Brains Rewire Themselves to Survive Deadly Infection - Neuroscience News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- AbbVie Hold Rating: Balancing Strong Immunology Growth with Challenges in Aesthetics, Neuroscience, and Oncology - TipRanks - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Want to Feel Better and Be More Mindful? Neuroscience Says This Habit Might Be Holding You Back - Inc.com - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- How One Bad Meal Rewires the Brain to Avoid That Food Forever - Neuroscience News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Marcus Neuroscience Institute to Host Brain and Spine Symposium - South Florida Hospital News - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Elon University to launch neuroscience major in fall 2025 - Today at Elon - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- The brains stalwart sentinels express an unexpected gene - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Video catches microglia in the act of synaptic pruning - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Null and Noteworthy: Reexamining registered reports - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Accepting the bitter lesson and embracing the brains complexity - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- NIH neurodevelopmental assessment system now available as iPad app - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Stronger Bonds Before Birth Shape Healthier Mother-Child Futures - Neuroscience News - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- How Emotionally Intelligent People Learn to Control Their Inner Voice, Backed by Neuroscience - Inc. - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Gabriele Scheler reflects on the interplay between language, thought and AI - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Worlds first crowd-sourced neuroscience study aims to understand how our brains predict the future - EurekAlert - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Rewriting Neuroscience: Possible Foundations of Human Intelligence Observed for the First Time - SciTechDaily - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Calculating neurosciences carbon cost: Q&A with Stefan Pulver and William Smith - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- The future of neuroscience research at U.S. minority-serving institutions is in danger - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Dopamine and social media: Why you cant stop scrolling, according to neuroscience - PsyPost - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Neuroscience Discovered a Clever Trick for Squeezing More Joy Out of Everyday Pleasures - Inc. - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- The limits of neuroscience - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- BPOM Explains The Benefits Of Fasting From The Health And Neuroscience Side - VOI English - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- How tiny tardigrades could help tackle systems neuroscience questions - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Alison Preston explains how our brains form mental frameworks for interpreting the world - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- The Mystical Mind Meets Neuroscience: Seeking the Roots of Consciousness - Next Big Idea Club Magazine - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Myosin Therapeutics Closes Second Seed Round to Advance Clinical Trials for Innovative Cancer and Neuroscience Therapies - PR Newswire - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Neuroscience Ph.D. programs adjust admissions in response to U.S. funding uncertainty - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- New tools help make neuroimaging accessible to more researchers - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Future Thinking Training Reduces Impulsivity - Neuroscience News - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Null and Noteworthy, relaunched: Probing a schizophrenia biomarker - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- How to communicate the value of curiosity-driven research - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Cognitive neuroscience approach to explore the impact of wind turbine noise on various mental functions - Nature.com - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Football on the Brain: Helping coaches embed neuroscience knowledge - Training Ground Guru - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Taking Control: Using Neuroscience to Build Better Lives - theLoop - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Creating a pipeline of talent to feed the growth of Neuroscience: Lessons from Ghana - Myjoyonline - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Exclusive: NIH appears to archive policy requiring female animals in studies - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Roll On Down The Highway 2025 Tour coming to Neuroscience Group Field - WeAreGreenBay.com - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- STEM organizations host Neuroscience Outreach Fair for local K-12 students - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Adapt or die: Safeguarding the future of diversity and inclusion funding in neuroscience - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- The last two-author neuroscience paper? - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Gate Neurosciences Strengthens Focus on the Synapse as a Therapeutic Target with Acquisition of Boost Neuroscience - Business Wire - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Why Firefly Neuroscience, Inc. (AIFF) Is Soaring This Year So Far - Yahoo Finance - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Breaking the barrier between theorists and experimentalists - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Preserving Brain Health and Advancing Neuroscience - University of Miami - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Science must step away from nationally managed infrastructure - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Repurposed Blood Pressure Drug May Treat ADHD - Neuroscience News - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- How to teach students about science funding - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Reflecting on 2024: Advancing Neuroscience Research to Improve Neurological Health - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Brains Hidden Circuitry for Risk and Reward Uncovered - Neuroscience News - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Why We Keep Exploring Even After Learning the Best Strategy - Neuroscience News - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Unlocking Cellular Youth: The Protein That Reverses Aging - Neuroscience News - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- This paper changed my Life: Bill Newsome reflects on a quadrilogy of classic visual perception studies - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and... - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Roundup: The false association between vaccines and autism - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - February 3rd, 2025 [February 3rd, 2025]
- Static pay, shrinking prospects fuel neuroscience postdoc decline - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - February 3rd, 2025 [February 3rd, 2025]