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Abstract
We frequently reposition our gaze by making rapid ballistic eye movements that are
called saccades. Saccades pose problems for the visual system, because they generate
rapid, large-field motion on the retina and change the relationship between the object
position in external space and the image position on the retina. The brain must ignore
the one and compensate for the other. Much progress has been made in recent years
in understanding the effects of saccades on visual function and elucidating the mechanisms
responsible for them. Evidence suggests that saccades trigger two distinct neural
processes: (1) a suppression of visual sensitivity, specific to the magnocellular
pathway, that dampens the sensation of motion and (2) a gross perceptual distortion
of visual space in anticipation of the repositioning of gaze. Neurophysiological findings
from several laboratories are beginning to identify the neural substrates involved
in these effects.