HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 99/3/1554    most recent 01024.2007v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Srimal, R. Articles by Curtis, C. E. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Srimal, R. Articles by Curtis, C. E.

REPORT

Obligatory Adaptation of Saccade Gains

²Department of Psychology and ¹Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York City, New York; and ³School of Psychology, Adeilad Brigantia, University of Wales Bangor, Gwynedd, United Kingdom

Submitted 14 September 2007; accepted in final form 25 January 2008

We tested the hypothesis that saccade gains adapt to minimize error between the visual target and the saccade endpoint of every saccade we make even when the errors on sequential saccades are not directionally consistent. We utilized a state-space model that estimated the degree to which saccade gains were modified by the magnitude and direction of errors made on the previous trial. Importantly, to show that learning did not depend on the accumulation of directionally consistent errors, we fit the model to saccades made to targets that were displaced in a random direction during the saccade, thereby inducing errors with directions that were not sequentially the same. Saccade gains clearly adapted on a trial-by-trial basis despite that the perturbations were random, and the average amount of learning per trial was of similar magnitude as that found in a constant displacement of the target. These results indicate that saccade adaptation is a rapid and obligatory process that does not require conscious awareness.