Microsaccadic eye movement generation is sufficient to enhance peripheral visual sensitivity

Microsaccades alone can enhance peripheral visual sensitivity across large eccentricities without attentional shifts in rhesus macaques.

• Why it matters: Understanding whether microsaccades cause changes in visual sensitivity is crucial for deciphering their role in attention and perception, addressing a long-standing debate.
• What they did: The study used real-time retinal image stabilization, behavioral analysis, and neurophysiology in rhesus macaques to demonstrate that controlling foveal eye movements is sufficient to modify extrafoveal sensitivity, even at large eccentricities and without attention demands.
• The result: Findings reveal that microsaccades are not just reflections of attention but actively contribute to visual processing, implying they are integral to cognitive functions like attention and perception.