Interaction of pre- and postsaccadic patterns having the same coordinates in space

Experiments were carried out to study the visibility of postsaccadic stimuli under the influence of patterns presented at the saccade goal immediately before the saccade. For gratings of 3.2 c/deg an improved visibility was found in the case when the pre- and postsaccadic stimuli have the same spatial frequency. This enhancement effect is also obtained with aperiodic patterns, and turns out to be pattern specific. Dichoptic experiments show that this effect is a central phenomenon. The experimental data can be interpreted as an integration of information about extra-foveal regions of the visual field at the saccade goal with later information obtained by foveal fixation after the eye movement. The results are discussed under the view point of visual stability.