Doctoral Student Profile

Sasha Boer

Supervisors: John Perrone, Robert Isler

An investigation into the factors affecting perceptual stability during pursuit eye movement
I am interested in how eye movements affect our visual navigation in space. For example, why does the world appear still when we move our eyes? In my research I will focus on estimation of heading and depth perception during smooth pursuit eye movements. The experiments that I will conduct will include estimating speed, direction and depth of moving stimuli. It was previously shown that cells in the primate medial superior temporal (MST) area integrate visual and eye movement signals, but the nature of these signals’ interactions is still largely unknown. Drawing upon previous psychophysical and electrophysiological findings, I hope to resolve some of the questions about retinal and extra-retinal signals and how they affect the perceptual stability of the world.