Dependence of the delay time for smooth pursuit eye movements in man on the velocity of the visual target

Abstract

Experiments were performed to measure the dependence of the delay time of the appearance of the first saccade preceding smooth eye movement on the velocity of the target. A clear hyperbolic dependence was found meaning that the delay time is composed of at least two components, i.e. the time needed to measure the stimulus velocity and the time to select one program for the smooth eye movement. The results are interpreted on the assumption that these movements are preprogrammed rather than of servomotor type.