Saccadic context indicates information processing within visual fixations: Evidence from event-related potentials and eye-movements analysis of the distractor effect

Attention, visual information processing, and oculomotor control are integrated functions of closely related brain mechanisms. Recently, it was shown that the processing of visual distractors appearing during a fixation is modulated by the amplitude of its preceding saccade (Pannasch & Velichkovsky, 2009). So far, this was demonstrated only at the behavioral level in terms of saccadic inhibition. The present study investigated distractor-related brain activity with cortical eye fixation-related potentials (EFRPs). Moreover, the following saccade was included as an additional classification criterion. Eye movements and EFRPs were recorded during free visual exploration of paintings. During some of the fixations, a visual distractor was shown as an annulus around the fixation position, 100 ms after the fixation onset. The saccadic context of a fixation was classified by its preceding and following saccade amplitudes with the cut-off criterion set to 4° of visual angle. The prolongation of fixation duration induced by distractors was largest for fixations preceded and followed by short saccades. EFRP data revealed a difference in distractor-related P2 amplitude between the saccadic context conditions, following the same trend as in eye movements. Furthermore, influences of the following saccade amplitude on the latency of the saccadic inhibition and on the N1 amplitude were found. The EFRP results cannot be explained by the influence of saccades per se since this bias was removed by subtracting the baseline from the distractor EFRP. Rather, the data suggest that saccadic context indicates differences in how information is processed within single visual fixations.

Research highlights
► Amplitudes of saccades modulate effects of distractors presented within a visual fixation.
► The following saccade modulates the latency of saccadic inhibition and N1 component of EFRP.
► Overall saccadic inhibition and P2 component of EFRP are also modulated by the preceding saccade.
► These effects are strongest in context of short saccades, within the range of 4° of visual angle.
► Saccadic context indicates differences in how information is processed within single visual fixations.