Hierarchical visual processing is dependent on the oculomotor system.

Abstract

Using functional MRI and eye movement recordings we studied the processing of hierarchical stimuli. In agreement with others, we found a minor left hemispheric dominance during local and right dominance during global processing. When attention was directed locally, well-known oculomotor cortical areas were activated, and saccades were elicited in 41% of the trials. Their latencies were similar to pro-saccades. During global processing virtually no saccades occurred. These results suggest two different operational modes of attention. Attending to local features induces a shift of attention, which simultaneously computes a saccade on any level above the brainstem with a computational burden equal to reflexive saccades. Conversely, attending to global features induces an expansion of the focus of attention, which reinforces fixation.