Saccade-contingent displacement of the apparent position of visual stimuli flashed on a dimly illuminated structured background.

Subjects were required to perceptually judge the location of flash targets presented at the time of a saccade at various positions scattered two-dimensionally on a dimly illuminated structured background. The saccade-contingent mislocalization was shown only in the direction parallel to the saccade, and not in the direction perpendicular to the saccade. In addition, the mislocalization under the "illuminated background" condition was different in several respects from that observed when targets were presented in the dark. It was suggested that the mislocalization is successfully explained by assuming three physiological and cognitive processes: a sluggish activity of the extraretinal eye position signal, visual cues from the visible background, and selective inattention to image displacements.