Reflexive recalibration and predictive eye movements after eye blinks

Abstract

An average person blinks their eye approximately 20 times per minute. However, these eye blinks are rarely noticed, despite how these blink-induced disconnections from the visual environment result in the of loss of information. Existing literature have shown that adaptation during eye blinks can facilitate this continuity of visual perception, thus explaining how eye blinks can go unnoticed. This study investigates the effects of an eye blink on gaze positions while watching a moving stimulus, a drifting Gabor. Notably, the phenomenon of nystagmus was observed in a drifting Gabor. It was hypothesised that prediction can be observed, where the gaze positions and eye drifting movement will continue the motion of nystagmus after an eye blink. Alternatively, reset occurs during eye blinks while looking at a drifting Gabor. A total of 10 participants were analysed and the results were presented in the form of the gaze positions and eye velocities before and after an eye blink. Results show that prediction in terms of gaze positions generally do not occur. Instead, reset of eye movement occurred for the disappear, no change and random conditions. On the other hand, prediction in terms of eye velocities was found to be present in both before and after eye blinks. This implies that velocity of eye movement can be altered reflexively before and after eye blinks to facilitate and predict the change in motion of a stimulus.