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Paper   IPM / Cognitive / 18044
School of Cognitive Sciences
  Title:   Microsaccade selectivity as discriminative feature for object decoding
  Author(s): 
1.  S. Nouri
2.  A. Soltani Tehrani
3.  N. Faridani
4.  R. Toosi
5.  J. Noroozi
6.  M. Abolghasemi-Dehaqani
  Status:   Published
  Journal: iScience
  No.:  1
  Vol.:  28
  Year:  2024
  Supported by:  IPM
  Abstract:
Microsaccades, a form of fixational eye movements, help maintain visual stability during stationary observations. This study examines the modulation of microsaccadic rates by various stimulus categories in monkeys and humans during a passive viewing task. Stimulus sets were grouped into four primary categories: human, animal, natural, and man-made. Distinct post-stimulus microsaccade patterns were identified across these categories, enabling successful decoding of the stimulus category with accuracy and recall of up to 85%. We observed that microsaccade rates are independent of pupil size changes. Neural data showed that category classification in the inferior temporal (IT) cortex peaks earlier than changes in microsaccade rates, suggesting feedback from the IT cortex influences eye movements after stimulus discrimination. These results contribute to neurobiological models, enhance human-machine interfaces, optimize experimental visual stimuli, and deepen understanding of microsaccades' role in object decoding.

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