The Peri-Saccadic Perception of Space, Time, and Object Features: Insights from Cern Physicists

Saccades are fast, ballistic eye movements. Irrespective of the substantial differences between pre- and post-saccadic retinal images, visual perception across saccades appears as being continuous and stable. Active, compensational mechanisms are necessary to construct this spatial and temporal stability. Under laboratory conditions the limits of these compensatory mechanisms are unveiled. In the temporal vicinity of saccades, characteristic misperceptions can be demonstrated. In this study, psychophysical experiments with human participants were conducted, addressing different aspects of temporal and spatial, trans-saccadic stability. We investigated the peri-saccadic perception of time, perceptual consequences of saccadic adaptation, the peri-saccadic representation of object features, and the impact of emotionally relevant saccade targets.