Manuo-ocular coordination in target tracking. I. A model simulating human performance.

Abstract

During eye tracking of a self-moved target, human subjects' performance differs from eye-alone tracking of an external target. Typical latency between target and eye motion onsets is shorter, ocular smooth pursuit (SP) saturation velocity increases and the maximum target motion frequency at which the SP system functions correctly is higher. Based on a previous qualitative model, a quantitative model of the coordination control between the arm motor system and the SP system is presented and evaluated here. The model structure maintains a high level of parallelism with the physiological system. It contains three main parts: the eye motor control (containing a SP branch and a saccadic branch), the arm motor control and the coordination control. The coordination control is achieved via an exchange of information between the arm and the eye sensorimotor systems, mediated by sensory signals (vision, proprioception) and motor command copy. This cross-talk results in improved SP system performance. The model has been computer simulated and the results have been compared with human subjects' behavior observed during previous experiments. The model performance is seen to quantitatively fit data on human subjects.