Micro-pursuit: A class of fixational eye movements correlating with smooth, predictable, small-scale target trajectories

Humans generate ocular pursuit movements when a moving target is tracked throughout the visual field. In this article, we show that pursuit can be generated and measured at small amplitudes, at the scale of fixational eye movements, and tag these eye movements as micro-pursuits. During micro-pursuits, gaze direction correlates with a target's smooth, predictable target trajectory. We measure similarity between gaze and target trajectories using a so-called maximally projected correlation and provide results in three experimental data sets. A first observation of micro-pursuit is provided in an implicit pursuit task, where observers were tasked to maintain their gaze fixed on a static cross at the center of screen, while reporting changes in perception of an ambiguous, moving (Necker) cube. We then provide two experimental paradigms and their corresponding data sets: a first replicating micro-pursuits in an explicit pursuit task, where observers had to follow a moving fixation cross (Cross), and a second with an unambiguous square (Square). Individual and group analyses provide evidence that micro-pursuits exist in both the Necker and Cross experiments but not in the Square experiment. The interexperiment analysis results suggest that the manipulation of stimulus target motion, task, and/or the nature of the stimulus may play a role in the generation of micro-pursuits.