Introduction

•Saccadic adaptation represents a form of motor learning that compensates for physiological (aging, fatigue etc.) and pathological changes affecting the sensorimotor system. It can be induced in the laboratory by using the double-step target paradigm (McLaughhlin, 1967). In literature, saccadic adaptation was mostly investigated with respect to saccade amplitude (Abrams et al., 1992; Alahyane et al., 2004; Frens & van Opstal, 1994), while only a small number of studies, dealt with direction adaptation (Deubel, 1987; Noto et al., 1999; Bock et al., 2008). It remains open whether the adaptation of amplitude, share similar or different neural mechanisms. We examined the adaptation of targeting saccades that are visually induced, have sufficiently long latencies of ~ 180 ms and were suggested in literature to involve both brainstem and cortical processing.

Introduction

•Saccadic adaptation represents a form of motor learning that compensates for physiological (aging, fatigue etc.) and pathological changes affecting the sensorimotor system. It can be induced in the laboratory by using the double-step target paradigm (McLaughhlin, 1967). In literature, saccadic adaptation was mostly investigated with respect to saccade amplitude (Abrams et al., 1992; Alahyane et al., 2004; Frens & van Opstal, 1994), while only a small number of studies, dealt with direction adaptation (Deubel, 1987; Noto et al., 1999; Bock et al., 2008). It remains open whether the adaptation of amplitude, share similar or different neural mechanisms. We examined the adaptation of targeting saccades that are visually induced, have sufficiently long latencies of ~ 180 ms and were suggested in literature to involve both brainstem and cortical processing.

Introduction

•Saccadic adaptation represents a form of motor learning that compensates for physiological (aging, fatigue etc.) and pathological changes affecting the sensorimotor system. It can be induced in the laboratory by using the double-step target paradigm (McLaughhlin, 1967). In literature, saccadic adaptation was mostly investigated with respect to saccade amplitude (Abrams et al., 1992; Alahyane et al., 2004; Frens & van Opstal, 1994), while only a small number of studies, dealt with direction adaptation (Deubel, 1987; Noto et al., 1999; Bock et al., 2008). It remains open whether the adaptation of amplitude, share similar or different neural mechanisms. We examined the adaptation of targeting saccades that are visually induced, have sufficiently long latencies of ~ 180 ms and were suggested in literature to involve both brainstem and cortical processing.