Time-Optimal Control of Saccadic Eye Movements

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, VOL. BME-34, NO. 1, JANUARY 19874 Time-Optimal Control of Saccadic Eye Movements JOHN D. ENDERLE, MEMBER, IEEE, AND JAMES W. WOLFE Abstract-A new theory describing the time-optimal control of saccadic eye... More

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, VOL. BME-34, NO. 1, JANUARY 19874 Time-Optimal Control of Saccadic Eye Movements JOHN D. ENDERLE, MEMBER, IEEE, AND JAMES W. WOLFE Abstract-A new theory describing the time-optimal control of saccadic eye movements is proposed based on Pontryagin s minimum principle and physiological considerations. The lateral and medial rectus muscle of each eye is assumed to be a parallel combination of an active state tension generator with a viscosity and elastic element, connected to a series elastic element. The eyeball is modeled as a sphere connected to a viscosity and elastic element. Each of these elements is assumed to be ideal and linear. The neuronal control strategy is shown to be a first-order time-optimal control signal. Under this condition, the active state tension for each muscle is a low-pass filtered pulse-step waveform. The magnitude of the agonist pulse is a maximum for saccades of all sizes and only the duration of the agon Less