Saccadic velocity as an arousal index in naturalistic tasks

Leandro L Di Stasi; Andrés Catena; José J Cañas; Stephen L Macknik; Susana Martinez-Conde

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.03.011

Saccadic velocity as an arousal index in naturalistic tasks

Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2013 Jun;37(5):968-75. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.03.011. Epub 2013 Mar 26.

Authors

Leandro L Di Stasi¹, Andrés Catena, José J Cañas, Stephen L Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde

Affiliation

¹ Department of Neurobiology, Barrow Neurological Institute, 350 West Thomas Road, Phoenix, AZ 85013, USA. distasi@ugr.es

PMID: 23541685
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.03.011

Abstract

Experimental evidence indicates that saccadic metrics vary with task difficulty and time-on-task in naturalistic scenarios. We explore historical and recent findings on the correlation of saccadic velocity with task parameters in clinical, military, and everyday situations, and its potential role in ergonomics. We moreover discuss the hypothesis that changes in saccadic velocity indicate variations in sympathetic nervous system activation; that is, variations in arousal.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Review

MeSH terms

Arousal / physiology*
Ergonomics
Humans
Mental Disorders / diagnosis
Mental Disorders / physiopathology
Reaction Time / physiology
Saccades / physiology*
Sleep Deprivation / physiopathology