Document Detail


The effect of blinks and saccadic eye movements on visual reaction times.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  19429958     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Vision is suppressed during blinks and saccadic eye movements. We hypothesized that visual reaction times (RTs) in a vigilance test would be significantly increased when a blink or a saccade happened to coincide with the stimulus onset. Thirty healthy volunteers each performed a visual RT test for 15 min while their eye and eyelid movements were monitored by a system of infrared reflectance oculography. RTs increased significantly, many by more than 200 msec, when a blink occurred between 75 msec before and up to 150 msec after the stimulus onset. A similar result was observed with saccades that started 75 to 150 msec after the stimulus. Vision or attention was evidently inhibited before each blink and for longer than the saccades lasted. We suggest that visual suppression is involved in this process, which could explain some of the normal variability in RTs over periods of seconds that has not been adequately explained before.
Authors:
Murray Johns; Kate Crowley; Robert Chapman; Andrew Tucker; Christopher Hocking
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Attention, perception & psychophysics     Volume:  71     ISSN:  1943-3921     ISO Abbreviation:  Atten Percept Psychophys     Publication Date:  2009 May 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2009-05-11     Completed Date:  2009-07-13     Revised Date:  2011-02-24    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  101495384     Medline TA:  Atten Percept Psychophys     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  783-8     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. mjohns@optalert.com
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adolescent
Adult
Attention*
Blinking*
Discrimination Learning*
Female
Humans
Male
Pattern Recognition, Visual*
Psychomotor Performance*
Reaction Time*
Reversal Learning
Saccades*
Sensory Thresholds
Young Adult

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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