Saccadic latency in deterministic environments: Getting back on track after the unexpected happens

Abstract

Saccadic latencies are commonly used to study decision mechanisms. For instance, in a random sequence, saccadic latency to a target depends on how frequently it has recently appeared. However, frequency is not the only factor that determines probability. Here we presented targets to the left or right, either in random sequences or in repeating patterns. Although the frequency of appearing on a given side was identical in each case, latencies for the low-frequency side were significantly shorter for repeating patterns than in random sequences, showing that the system can respond to the deterministic probabilities in such patterns. We then disrupted our patterns episodically, recommencing at a..