biostudies-literatureLi HHNEI NIH HHSNIDA NIH HHSU.S. Department of Health & Human Services | National Institutes of Health1418-1431https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC8552811biostudies-literatureUnknown5(10)Perception and action are tightly coupled: visual responses at the saccade target are enhanced right before saccade onset. This phenomenon, presaccadic attention, is a form of overt attention-deployment of visual attention with concurrent eye movements. Presaccadic attention is well-documented, but its underlying computational process remains unknown. This is in stark contrast to covert attention-deployment of visual attention without concurrent eye movements-for which the computational processes are well characterized by a normalization model. Here, a series of psychophysical experiments reveal that presaccadic attention modulates visual performance only via response gain changes. A response gain change was observed even when attention field size increased, violating the predictions of a normalization model of attention. Our empirical results and model comparisons reveal that the perceptual modulations by overt presaccadic and covert spatial attention are mediated through different computations.Nature human behaviourDifferent computations underlie overt presaccadic and covert spatial attention.PMC8552811R90 DA043849R01EY019693R01 EY019693Pan JCarrasco MLi HHfalseDifferent computations underlie overt presaccadic and covert spatial attention.Perception and action are tightly coupled: visual responses at the saccade target are enhanced right before saccade onset. This phenomenon, presaccadic attention, is a form of overt attention-deployment of visual attention with concurrent eye movements. Presaccadic attention is well-documented, but its underlying computational process remains unknown. This is in stark contrast to covert attention-deployment of visual attention without concurrent eye movements-for which the computational processes are well characterized by a normalization model. Here, a series of psychophysical experiments reveal that presaccadic attention modulates visual performance only via response gain changes. A response gain change was observed even when attention field size increased, violating the predictions of a normalization model of attention. Our empirical results and model comparisons reveal that the perceptual modulations by overt presaccadic and covert spatial attention are mediated through different computations.2021-01-01T00:00:00Z2021 Oct2025-04-04T13:51:01.692Z2025-04-04T13:51:01.692ZS-EPMC85528113387583810.1038/s41562-021-01099-4