During normal visual behavior, humans and other primates use saccades to scan their environment, pursuit and vergence to track moving objects, as well as reflexive eye movements to stabilize the retinal image during self-motion. Despite the sophistication of these movements and the important purposes they serve, most research on visual perception implicitly assumes that eye movements play only a minor role in visual processing. Similarly, current models of visually driven eye movements are based on the view that the oculomotor system consists of simple control loops that function independently of perception. Indeed, some have proposed two separate visual systems for perception and motor action.

However, recent demonstrations in some cases of a clear linkage between eye movements and perception and in other cases of a lack thereof, together with new technical developments, have reinvigorated interest in the relationship between eye movements and perception.

To foster integration of critical findings across these two fields, we invite researchers to contribute to a special issue of the Journal of Vision. Physiological, behavioral, psychophysical, computational, and imaging approaches are welcome. This issue will address a wide range of topics, including but not limited to:

In what ways do eye movements affect visual perception?

In what ways does visual perception affect eye movements?

What psychophysical methodologies can be used to better understand eye movements?

What oculomotor methodologies can be used to better understand visual perception?

How are saccadic and perceptual decisions related during search?

How are object-motion perception and pursuit eye movements related?

How do scan paths impact visual localization, discrimination, and identification performance?

How do eye movements reflect attentional state?

How does cognitive state affect eye movements?

How are eye movements related to motor planning, such as reaching, grasping, and steering?

Guest Editors:

Lee Stone
NASA Ames Research Center
lstone@mail.arc.nasa.gov

Fred Miles
NIH Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research
fam@lsr.nei.nih.gov

Marty Banks
University of California, Berkeley
marty@john.berkeley.edu

Deadline for submissions:

May 2, 2003

Target publication date:

October 1, 2003

Journal of Vision encourages the use of images, color, movies, hyperlinks, and other digital enhancements. To submit a paper to this special issue please follow the Instructions for Authors.