Effects of state of eye movements before saccade on efficiency of response to stimulus – comparison of search efficiency between fixation and smooth pursuit states

It was explored how the state of eye movement before saccade affected the response to a stimulus. The state of eye movement before saccade was either smooth pursuit or fixation. The smooth pursuit was carried out both clockwise and counter-clockwise. Using an eye-tracking system, the eye movement during the experimental task was measured. The response time to a stimulus was also measured. On the basis of the eye movement data (coordinate), the eye movement velocity, the eye movement acceleration, and the latency of eye movement were obtained. When smooth pursuit was carried out before saccade, the response to a stimulus which appeared as a result of saccade was faster. More concretely, the response time of smooth pursuit condition was faster than that of fixation condition. The latency of the smooth pursuit condition also tended to be faster than that of the fixation condition. Some implications for the application of the results to the traffic safety or automotive ergonomics were given.