The Influence Of Allocentric Cues on Transsaccadic Integration of Multiple Objects

This thesis explores the role of stable allocentric information on the integration of visual information across eye movements. In this series of studies, I tested transsaccadic integration of multiple objects each with varying orientations in the presence or absence of reliable landmarks. Participants compared the orientations of two target stimuli presented before and after an eye movement and indicated whether the change was clockwise or counterclockwise. The landmarks were either intrinisic (directly related to the spatial location of the stimuli) or extrinsic (spatially independent). Results showed that the intrinsic landmarks were not able to temper this decrease in performance, but the extrinsic landmark had a significant effect. A control experiment was conducted to explain the extrinsic landmarks role of as a spatial cue. These results show that extrinsic visual landmarks can aid the visual systems ability to integrate visual information across eye movements.