Gradual remapping results in early retinotopic and late spatiotopic inhibition of return

Abstract

Here we report that immediately following the execution of an eye movement, oculomotor inhibition of return resides in retinotopic (eye-centered) coordinates. At longer postsaccadic intervals, inhibition resides in spatiotopic (world-centered) coordinates. These results are explained in terms of perisaccadic remapping. In the interval surrounding an eye movement, information is remapped within retinotopic maps to compensate for the retinal displacement. Because remapping is not an instantaneous process, a fast, but gradual, transfer of inhibition of return from retinotopic to spatiotopic coordinates can be observed in the postsaccadic interval. The observation that visual stability is preserved in inhibition of return is consistent with its function as a "foraging facilitator," which requires locations to be inhibited across multiple eye movements. The current results support the idea that the visual system is retinotopically organized and that the appearance of a spatiotopic organization is due to remapping of visual information to compensate for eye movements.