Smooth Pursuit in The Absence of A Visual Target
Performing smooth pursuit without a moving visual stimulus is difficult, and typically results in a series of saccades. However, pursuit without a visible target is possible under some particular conditions, that show the importance of high-level functions in smooth pursuit maintenance. If you know which way a target will move, or know the target trajectory (because it is periodic for instance), you can initiate pursuit before the target motion actually starts, especially if you know exactly when the motion will start. It is also possible to maintain pursuit if a target momentarily disappears, especially if the target appears to be occluded by a larger object. Under conditions in which there is no visual stimulation (in total darkness), we can still perform smooth pursuit eye movements with the help of a proprioceptive motion signal (e.g. your moving finger).
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“I have trod a measure, I have flattered a lady, I have
been politic with my friend, smooth with mine enemy.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“It is commonly supposed that the art of pleasing is a wonderful aid in the pursuit of fortune; but the art of being bored is infinitely more successful.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)
“The heart may think it knows better: the senses know that absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends. The friend becomes a traitor by breaking, however unwillingly or sadly, out of our own zone: a hard judgment is passed on him, for all the pleas of the heart.”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)
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“But this we know, the obstacle that checked
And tripped the body, shot the spirit on
Further than target ever showed or shone.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)