What are saccades?

Saccades are quick eye movements that help you see things clearly and quickly.

Imagine you're playing a game where you have to find hidden toys in a room. Instead of slowly moving your eyes around, you snap your gaze from one toy to another, that’s a saccade! It's like when you blink, but instead of closing your eyes, you’re jumping your focus from one spot to another.

When you look at something, your eyes don't stay still. They make little jumps called saccades so you can see different parts of a picture or follow something moving. These jumps are super fast, like when you flick a switch on and off in the dark.

Without saccades, your eyes would feel tired very quickly because they'd have to work too hard to move slowly all the time. But with them, your eyes can dart from one place to another without you even noticing, just like when you read a book and your eyes jump from word to word smoothly.