Effect of visual background on saccade adaptation in monkeys

The brain maintains saccade accuracy by modifying saccades that are consistently inaccurate (e.g. hypermetric). To determine whether this adaptation is influenced by the visual background we used several different target and background movements to elicit changes in saccade gain. In almost all cases, the target spot drove gain changes. The background had no effect on, or slightly reduced, adaptation. We conclude that the saccade adaptation mechanism is driven almost entirely by stimuli on or near the fovea and is affected very little by visual stimuli falling more peripherally.