Effect of Alcohol Consumption on the Frequency of Microsaccades

Abstract

In recent years, as eye movement measurement devices have become relatively cheap, many attempts have been made to quantitatively evaluate covert attention by focusing on microsaccades. However, the measurement of microsaccades still has many unclear points, and a unified analysis method is still lacking. As such, the interpretation of results differs among different research groups. To solve this problem, it is important to conduct empirical studies on microsaccades to evaluate them using a unified method. In this study, we conducted an empirical experiment on the effects of alcohol consumption on microsaccades by temporarily suppressing cerebellar activity with alcohol consumption. The results showed that the frequency of microsaccades was significantly reduced after 30, 50, and 70 min of drinking compared to after drinking (p< 0.05). These results suggest that the decrease in brain function caused by alcohol consumption suppresses the frequency of microsaccades, and that this may be the cause of constriction in the peripheral visual field when drinking.