Stochastic Physiological Gaze-Evoked Nystagmus With Slow Centripetal Drift During Fixational Eye Movements at Small Gaze Eccentricities

Involuntary eye movement during gaze (GZ) fixation, referred to as fixational eye movement (FEM), consists of two types of components: a Brownian motion like component called drifts-tremor (DRT) and a ballistic component called microsaccade (MS) with a mean saccadic amplitude of about 0.3 degrees and a mean inter-MS interval of about 0.5 s. During GZ fixation in healthy people in an eccentric position, typically with an eccentricity more than 30 degrees, eyes exhibit oscillatory movements alternating between centripetal drift and centrifugal saccade with a mean saccadic amplitude of about 1 degrees and a period in the range of 0.5-1.0 s, which has been known as the physiological gaze-evoked nystagmus (GEN). Here, we designed a simple experimental paradigm of GZ fixation on a target shifted horizontally from the front-facing position with fewer eccentricities. We found a clear tendency of centripetal DRT and centrifugal MS as in GEN, but with more stochasticity and with slower drift velocity compared to GEN, even during FEM at GZ positions with small eccentricities. Our results showed that the target shift-dependent balance between DRT and MS achieves the GZ bounded around each of the given targets. In other words, GZ relaxes slowly with the centripetal DRT toward the front-facing position during inter-MS intervals, as if there always exists a quasi-stable equilibrium posture in the front-facing position, and MS actions pull GZ intermittently back to the target position in the opposite direction to DRT.

Automated summary

The study found that involuntary eye movements, including drifts and microsaccades, occur during gaze fixation. In healthy individuals, the eyes exhibit oscillatory movements between centripetal drift and centrifugal microsaccades during eccentric fixation. The balance between drifts and microsaccades was found to be dependent on target displacement.