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Retention of Saccadic Adaptation in Humans
Author(s) -
ALAHYANE NADIA,
PÉLISSON DENIS
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1196/annals.1325.067
Subject(s) - saccade , saccadic masking , adaptation (eye) , psychology , persistence (discontinuity) , eye movement , audiology , neuroscience , medicine , geotechnical engineering , engineering
A bstract : In the present study, we tested in human subjects the persistence of the oculomotor changes resulting from saccadic adaptation up to 19 days after exposure to the double step target protocol. The main results indicate that the reduction of saccade gain related to the adaptation session (mean gain change of 5 subjects = 22 +/− 4.7%) was partially but significantly retained after 1 day and 5 days (mean amount of retention = 36 +/− 17% and 19.7 +/− 13.3%, respectively) but was no longer significant at day 11 and 19. Unexpectedly, gain changes were larger for leftward than for rightward saccades. No change in saccade dynamics was observed. These data suggest that in humans, adaptive mechanisms induce long lasting changes in visually‐guided saccade amplitude, probably reflecting plastic changes in the brain.