Research Areas

Self-calibration of the oculomotor system

The visual system is highly specialized to provide far reaching three-dimensional information with high definition. For an active exploration of the ambient scene, subjects make rapid eye movements, called saccades, which shift the direction of gaze and the retinal area of highest resolution from one target of interest to another. Saccades are so brief that the visual feedback is not completely processed until the saccade is already finished and furthermore, the sensory input is actively suppressed by the visual system during saccades. Thus the saccadic motor command has to be prepared reliably in advance to accurately aim the fovea at a new target. Over time, the mechanical properties of the oculomotor plant are subject to alterations that evoke erroneous saccades based on the obsolete motor command. For this reason the oculomotor system is undergoing a continuous process of self-calibration to adapt the new requirements. Experimentally, I investigate this process using the paradigm of saccadic adaptation. The main focus of my research is the employed reference frame in adaptation and the system's learning parameter.

Publications

Gremmler, S., Lappe, M. (2019) Postsaccadic eye position contributes to oculomotor error estimation in saccadic adaptation. Journal of Neurophysiology, 122(5), 1909–1917

Lencer, R., Meermeier, A., Silling, K., Gremmler, S., Lappe, M. (2017) Instability of visual error processing for sensorimotor adaptation in schizophrenia. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 267(3), 237-244

Gremmler, S., Lappe, M. (2017) Saccadic suppression during voluntary versus reactive saccades. Journal of Vision 17(8):8, 1-10

Meermeier, A., Gremmler, S., Richert, K., Eckermann, T.,  Lappe, M. (2017). The reward of seeing: different types of visual reward and their ability to modify oculomotor learning. Journal of Vision

 2017(12):11, 1-13

Meermeier, A., Gremmler, S., Lappe, M. (2016). New is always better - Novelty modulates oculomotor learning. Journal of Vision
 17(11):13, 1-7

Gremmler, S., Lappe,  M. (2016). Saccadic adaptation is associated with starting eye position. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00322

Meermeier, A., Gremmler, S., Lappe, M. (2016) The influence of image content on oculomotor plasticity. Journal of Vision 16(8):17, 1-12

Gremmler, S., Bosco, A, Fattori, P. & Lappe, M. (2014) Saccadic adaptation shapes visual space in macaques. Journal of Neurophysiology, 111 (9):1846-51

Wulff, S., Bosco, A., Havermann, K., Placenti, G., Fattori, P. & Lappe, M. (2012), Eye position effects in saccadic adaptation in macaques. Journal of Neurophysiology, 105(3):1130-1140

Conference Contributions

Gremmler, S. and Lappe, M. Saccadic Suppression during Voluntary vs Reactive Saccades, Poster presented at the Vision Science Society (VSS) Annual Meeting, St. Pete Beach, Florida, 2017

Gremmler, S. and Lappe, M. Does Motor Learning Affect Visual Perception? The influence of saccadic adaptation on object localization, Oral presentation at the Meeting of the Italian Physiological Society (SIF), Catania, Italy, 2016

Svenja Gremmler, Markus Lappe, Saccadic adaptation is associated with starting eye position, Poster presented at the European Conference of Eye Movements (ECEM), Vienna, 2015


Mohsen Sadeghi, Ondřej Havlíček, Rebecca Sier, Hans-Christian Ruiz, Svenja Gremmler, „A New Model for Saccadic Adaptation Based on Variable Learning Rates“, Short Oral Presentation, Translational and Computational Motor Control, Chicago, USA, 2015 


Gremmler, S., Bosco, A., Fattoti, P. & Lappe, M., Shaping the world through looking: Saccadic adaptation affects localization in macaques. 
Oral presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, USA, 2013

Gremmler, S. & Lappe, M., Saccadic Amplitude Shapes Adaptation Transfer Profile.
Oral presentation at the European Conference of Eye Movements (ECEM), Lund, Sweden, 2013

Wulff, S. & Lappe, M., Saccadic Adaptation with an Adapted Visual Error.
Poster presented at the Vision Science Society (VSS) 12th Annual Meeting, Naples, Florida, 2012

Wulff, S., Bosco, A., Fattori, P. & Lappe, M., The role of the saccadic motor vector in visual localization.
Poster presented at the Conference: Linking selection for visual perception, memory and action. Bielefeld, 2012

Wulff, S., Bosco, A, Havermann, K., Placenti, G., Fattori, P. & Lappe,M., Eye position effects in saccadic adaptation in monkeys. Poster presented at the European Conference on Eye Movements (ECEM), Marseille, France, 2011.

Wulff, S. for the ALICE Collaboration, Study of the effect of data compression on the position resolution of the ALICE TRD. Oral presentation at the DPG conference in Bochum 2009

CV

• 2003-2009 Studies in Physics, University of Münster, Germany
• March 2009 Diploma in Physics, University of Münster
  Diploma Thesis: Position Resolution and Zero Suppression of the ALICE TRD
  Supervisor: Prof. Dr. J. Wessels, Institute of Nuclear Physics, University of Münster
• May 2009 PhD Student at the Otto Creutzfeld Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, Institute of Biology, University of Münster
  Supervisor: Prof. Dr. M. Lappe, Institute of Psychology, University of Münster
• April - June 2010 Research Stay at the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Italy
• October 2013 Doctoral degree in Biology (Dr. rer. nat.) University of Münster
  Thesis: Reference frames and modification of target representation in oculomotor learning
• Since November 2013 Research Scientist at the Institute of Psychology, Group of Prof. Dr. M. Lappe, University of Mü