Lawful kinematics link eye movements to the limits of high-speed perception

Abstract

Perception relies on active sampling of the environment. What part of the physical world can be sensed is limited by biophysical constraints of sensory systems, but might be further constrained by the kinematic bounds of the motor actions that acquire sensory information. We tested this fundamental idea for humans’ fastest and most frequent behavior—saccadic eye movements—which entails retinal motion that commonly escapes visual awareness. We discover that the visibility of a high-speed stimulus, presented during fixation, is predicted by the lawful sensorimotor contingencies that saccades routinely impose on the retina, reflecting even distinctive variability between observers’ movements. Our results suggest that the visual systems’ functional and implementational properties are best understood in the context of movement kinematics that impact its sensory surface.