Saccades: Fast Jumps That Land Accurately
A saccade is the fastest movement the body makes. The eyes jump from one point to another in a fraction of a second, and vision is briefly suppressed during the jump, so accuracy has to be set before the movement starts. There is no correcting mid-flight.
What this drill trains
An accurate saccade lands on the target first time. An inaccurate one lands short or long and needs a second small jump to arrive, which doubles the time and adds a brief moment where nothing useful is being seen. On a single jump this is invisible. Across the tens of thousands of saccades in a day of reading or screen work, it is the difference between finishing sharp and finishing worn out.
This is also the drill most directly connected to reading. Reading is a chain of saccades with brief fixations between them, and a chain with corrections in it is slower and more effortful, regardless of how well the person understands the words.
How to do the saccades exercise
- Hold two targets at arm's length, about 40 centimetres apart, level with your eyes. Two fingertips or two pen tips work.
- Keep your head still throughout.
- Jump your eyes from one target to the other as fast as you can, and stop dead on it.
- Land, hold for a moment until the target is clearly sharp, then jump back.
- Run 30 seconds horizontally, 30 seconds with the targets stacked vertically, then 30 seconds on a diagonal.
- Progress by widening the gap between the targets, not by rushing the jumps.
Brainpro runs this drill with the pacing and progression set for you, and records how it changes from session to session.
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- The eyes land near the target and then make a small second movement onto it.
- The target takes a moment to sharpen after each landing.
- The head begins to lead the jump.
- Accuracy falls off in one direction or on the vertical pair while the horizontal stays clean.
Who this matters most for
Anyone who reads or scans screens for a living, and anyone in a sport that requires switching attention between several points quickly: keeper to striker, mirror to road, target to target.
Questions people ask
Should the jump be fast or accurate?
Accurate. Speed follows accuracy, not the other way around. A fast jump that needs a correction is slower overall than a controlled one that lands first time.
How far apart should the targets be?
Start at about 40 centimetres at arm's length and widen the gap as landings stay clean. Widening the gap is the progression, not increasing the pace.
Does this help with reading?
Reading is a chain of saccades with short fixations between them, so accuracy in the jump is directly relevant. Brainpro trains the movement itself and does not teach reading.