Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Definition, modeling and detection of saccades in the face of post-saccadic oscillations

View ORCID ProfileRichard Schweitzer, View ORCID ProfileMartin Rolfs
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.24.436800
Richard Schweitzer
Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Richard Schweitzer
  • For correspondence: richard.schweitzer@scioi.de
Martin Rolfs
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Martin Rolfs
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Data/Code
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

When analyzing eye tracking data, one of the central tasks is the detection of saccades. Although many automatic saccade detection algorithms exist, the field still debates how to deal with brief periods of instability around saccade offset, so-called post-saccadic oscillations (PSOs), which are especially prominent in today’s widely used video-based eye tracking techniques. There is good evidence that PSOs are caused by inertial forces that act on the elastic components of the eye, such as the iris or the lens. As this relative movement can greatly distort estimates of saccade metrics, especially saccade duration and peak velocity, video-based eye tracking has recurrently been considered unsuitable for measuring saccade kinematics. In this chapter, we review recent biophysical models that describe the relationship between pupil motion and eyeball motion. We found that these models were well capable of accurately reproducing saccade trajectories and implemented a framework for the simulation of saccades, PSOs, and fixations, which can be used – just like datasets hand-labelled by human experts – to evaluate detection algorithms and train statistical models. Moreover, as only pupil and corneal-reflection signals are observable in video-based eye tracking, one may also be able to use these models to predict the unobservable motion of the eyeball. Testing these predictions by analyzing saccade data that was registered with video-based and search-coil eye tracking techniques revealed strong relationships between the two types of measurements, especially when saccade offset is defined as the onset of the PSO. To enable eye tracking researchers to make use of this definition, we present and evaluate two novel algorithms – one based on eye-movement direction inversion, one based on linear classifiers previously trained on simulation data. These algorithms allow for the detection of PSO onset with high fidelity. Even though PSOs may still pose problems for a range of eye tracking applications, the techniques described here may help to alleviate these.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • Manuscript accepted for publication as a chapter in Eye-tracking: Background, methods and applications (ed. S. Stuart), SpringerNature Neuromethods.

  • Acknowledgements, funding details, and corresponding author contact information were added.

  • https://osf.io/n36fx/

  • https://github.com/richardschweitzer/PostsaccadicOscillations

  • https://richardschweitzer.shinyapps.io/pso_fitting_example/

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted August 16, 2021.
Download PDF
Data/Code
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Definition, modeling and detection of saccades in the face of post-saccadic oscillations
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Definition, modeling and detection of saccades in the face of post-saccadic oscillations
Richard Schweitzer, Martin Rolfs
bioRxiv 2021.03.24.436800; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.24.436800
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Definition, modeling and detection of saccades in the face of post-saccadic oscillations
Richard Schweitzer, Martin Rolfs
bioRxiv 2021.03.24.436800; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.24.436800

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Neuroscience
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4081)
  • Biochemistry (8753)
  • Bioengineering (6470)
  • Bioinformatics (23328)
  • Biophysics (11727)
  • Cancer Biology (9139)
  • Cell Biology (13231)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (7404)
  • Ecology (11364)
  • Epidemiology (2066)
  • Evolutionary Biology (15081)
  • Genetics (10392)
  • Genomics (14004)
  • Immunology (9113)
  • Microbiology (22030)
  • Molecular Biology (8774)
  • Neuroscience (47333)
  • Paleontology (350)
  • Pathology (1419)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2480)
  • Physiology (3702)
  • Plant Biology (8044)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1429)
  • Synthetic Biology (2206)
  • Systems Biology (6012)
  • Zoology (1247)