Optimizing visual motion perception during eye movements

We usually perceive a stationary, stable world and we are able to correctly estimate the direction of heading from optic flow despite coherent visual motion induced by eye movements. This astonishing example of perceptual inv ariance results from a comparison of visual information with internal refer ence signals predicting the visual consequences of an eye movement. Here we demonstrate that the reference signal predicting the consequences of smoot h-pursuit eye movements is continuously calibrated on the basis of directio n-selective interactions between the pursuit motor command and the rotation al flow induced by the eye movement, thereby minimizing imperfections of th e reference signal and guaranteeing an ecologically optimal interpretation of visual motion.