saccadic eye movements minimize the consequences of motor noise眼跳眼球运动减少汽车噪声的后果.pdfVIP

Saccadic Eye Movements Minimize the Consequences of Motor Noise Robert J. van Beers1,2* 1 Physics of Man, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2 Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Abstract The durations and trajectories of our saccadic eye movements are remarkably stereotyped. We have no voluntary control over these properties but they are determined by the movement amplitude and, to a smaller extent, also by the movement direction and initial eye orientation. Here we show that the stereotyped durations and trajectories are optimal for minimizing the variability in saccade endpoints that is caused by motor noise. The optimal duration can be understood from the nature of the motor noise, which is a combination of signal-dependent noise favoring long durations, and constant noise, which prefers short durations. The different durations of horizontal vs. vertical and of centripetal vs. centrifugal saccades, and the somewhat surprising properties of saccades in oblique directions are also accurately predicted by the principle of minimizing movement variability. The simple and sensible principle of minimizing the consequences of motor noise thus explains the full stereotypy of saccadic eye movements. This suggests that saccades are so stereotyped because that is the best strategy to minimize movement errors for an open-loop motor system. Citation: van Beers RJ (2008) Saccadic Eye Movements Minimize the Consequences of Motor Noise. PLoS ONE 3(4): e2070. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002070 Editor: Aldo Rustichini, University of Minnesota, United States of America Received January 9, 2008; Accepted March 17, 2008; Published April 30, 2008 Copyright: 2008 Robert van Beers. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, whic