Saccadic eye movements in dual tasking: No impairment of spatial planning, but delayed execution of saccades

2020 ◽  
pp. 174702182096069
Author(s):  
Christina B Reimer ◽  
Luke Tudge ◽  
Torsten Schubert
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Saccade Latency ◽  
Button Press ◽  
Manual Response ◽  
Manual Task ◽  
Manual Responses ◽  
Saccade Task ◽  
Saccade Trajectory

In the target–distractor saccade task, a target and an irrelevant distractor are simultaneously presented and the task itself consists of a target-directed saccade. Findings usually show that as saccade latency increases, saccade trajectory deviation towards the distractor decreases. We presented this saccade task in two dual-task experiments to address the open question of whether performance of an auditory–manual task simply delays the temporal execution of a saccade, or whether it also interferes with the spatial planning of the saccade trajectory. We measured saccade latency, as a measure of a delay in execution, and saccade trajectory deviation, as a measure of the spatial planning. In Experiment 1, the auditory–manual task was a two-choice reaction time (two-CRT) task, and in Experiment 2, it was a go-no-go task. Performing the two tasks in close temporal succession shortly delayed the temporal execution of the saccade, but did not influence the spatial planning of the saccade trajectory. This result pattern was more pronounced when the auditory–manual task required the selection and execution of one of two possible manual responses (Experiment 1), less pronounced when the auditory–manual task required the decision to execute a button press (go condition, Experiment 2), and absent when the auditory–manual task required the decision to inhibit a button press (no-go condition, Experiment 2). Taken together, the manual response rather than the response selection process of the auditory–manual task led to a delay of saccade execution, but not to an impairment of the spatial planning of the saccade trajectory.

scholarly journals Two sources of task prioritization: The interplay of effector-based and task order-based capacity allocation in the PRP paradigm

2020 ◽  
Vol 82 (7) ◽  
pp. 3402-3414
Author(s):  
Mareike A. Hoffmann ◽  
Aleks Pieczykolan ◽  
Iring Koch ◽  
Lynn Huestegge
Keyword(s):  
Response Selection ◽  
Capacity Allocation ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Manual Task ◽  
Task Order ◽  
Manual Responses ◽  
Multiple Input ◽  
Task Prioritization ◽  
Onset Asynchrony ◽  
Prp Paradigm

Abstract When processing of two tasks overlaps, performance is known to suffer. In the well-established psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm, tasks are triggered by two stimuli with a short temporal delay (stimulus onset asynchrony; SOA), thereby allowing control of the degree of task overlap. A decrease of the SOA reliably yields longer RTs of the task associated with the second stimulus (Task 2) while performance in the other task (Task 1) remains largely unaffected. This Task 2-specific SOA effect is usually interpreted in terms of central capacity limitations. Particularly, it has been assumed that response selection in Task 2 is delayed due to the allocation of less capacity until this process has been completed in Task 1. Recently, another important factor determining task prioritization has been proposed—namely, the particular effector systems associated with tasks. Here, we study both sources of task prioritization simultaneously by systematically combining three different effector systems (pairwise combinations of oculomotor, vocal, and manual responses) in the PRP paradigm. Specifically, we asked whether task order-based task prioritization (SOA effect) is modulated as a function of Task 2 effector system. The results indicate a modulation of SOA effects when the same (oculomotor) Task 1 is combined with a vocal versus a manual Task 2. This is incompatible with the assumption that SOA effects are solely determined by Task 1 response selection duration. Instead, they support the view that dual-task processing bottlenecks are resolved by establishing a capacity allocation scheme fed by multiple input factors, including attentional weights associated with particular effector systems.

scholarly journals Visual Information Shapes the Dynamics of Corticobasal Ganglia Pathways during Response Selection and Inhibition

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 1344-1359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Jahfari ◽  
Lourens Waldorp ◽  
K. Richard Ridderinkhof ◽  
H. Steven Scholte
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Effective Connectivity ◽  
Action Selection ◽  
Visual Input ◽  
Fmri Data ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
Fast Flow

Action selection often requires the transformation of visual information into motor plans. Preventing premature responses may entail the suppression of visual input and/or of prepared muscle activity. This study examined how the quality of visual information affects frontobasal ganglia (BG) routes associated with response selection and inhibition. Human fMRI data were collected from a stop task with visually degraded or intact face stimuli. During go trials, degraded spatial frequency information reduced the speed of information accumulation and response cautiousness. Effective connectivity analysis of the fMRI data showed action selection to emerge through the classic direct and indirect BG pathways, with inputs deriving form both prefrontal and visual regions. When stimuli were degraded, visual and prefrontal regions processing the stimulus information increased connectivity strengths toward BG, whereas regions evaluating visual scene content or response strategies reduced connectivity toward BG. Response inhibition during stop trials recruited the indirect and hyperdirect BG pathways, with input from visual and prefrontal regions. Importantly, when stimuli were nondegraded and processed fast, the optimal stop model contained additional connections from prefrontal to visual cortex. Individual differences analysis revealed that stronger prefrontal-to-visual connectivity covaried with faster inhibition times. Therefore, prefrontal-to-visual cortex connections appear to suppress the fast flow of visual input for the go task, such that the inhibition process can finish before the selection process. These results indicate response selection and inhibition within the BG to emerge through the interplay of top–down adjustments from prefrontal and bottom–up input from sensory cortex.

Aesthetic Preference and Lateral Dominance

1988 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 555-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ann Valentino ◽  
James W. Brown ◽  
W. A. Cronan-Hillix
Keyword(s):  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Response Mode ◽  
Psychology Student ◽  
Manual Response ◽  
Verbal Responses ◽  
Left Handed ◽  
Manual Responses ◽  
Student Subjects ◽  
The Right ◽  
Aesthetic Preferences

Aesthetic preferences for photographs with the main focal content either to the left or right of the photograph's center were examined in right- and left-handed subjects. Verbal responses or manual responses were required. In one experiment with 261 introductory psychology student-subjects, left-handers more often preferred photographs with the more important part on the left (“left-geared”) than did right-handers. Exp. 2, involving 84 right-handed student subjects, showed that left-geared photographs presented on the left side were preferred more often than left-geared photographs presented on the right side, and left-geared photographs presented on the left side were more often chosen when a left-handed manual response was required. Interactions between handedness, position of the stimulus, language hemisphere, and response mode make it extremely difficult to ascertain whether the right hemisphere is really more involved in aesthetic decisions.

scholarly journals Early and Late Modulation of Saccade Deviations by Target Distractor Similarity

2009 ◽  
Vol 102 (3) ◽  
pp. 1451-1458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manon Mulckhuyse ◽  
Stefan Van der Stigchel ◽  
Jan Theeuwes
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Dependent Measure ◽  
Saccade Latency ◽  
Oculomotor Control ◽  
Opposite Pattern ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Time Courses ◽  
Saccade Trajectory ◽  
Rule Out

In this study, we investigated the time course of oculomotor competition between bottom-up and top-down selection processes using saccade trajectory deviations as a dependent measure. We used a paradigm in which we manipulated saccade latency by offsetting the fixation point at different time points relative to target onset. In experiment 1, observers made a saccade to a filled colored circle while another irrelevant distractor circle was presented. The distractor was either similar (i.e., identical) or dissimilar to the target. Results showed that the strength of saccade deviation was modulated by target distractor similarity for short saccade latencies. To rule out the possibility that the similar distractor affected the saccade trajectory merely because it was identical to the target, the distractor in experiment 2 was a square shape of which only the color was similar or dissimilar to the target. The results showed that deviations for both short and long latencies were modulated by target distractor similarity. When saccade latencies were short, we found less saccade deviation away from a similar than from a dissimilar distractor. When saccade latencies were long, the opposite pattern was found: more saccade deviation away from a similar than from a dissimilar distractor. In contrast to previous findings, our study shows that task-relevant information can already influence the early processes of oculomotor control. We conclude that competition between saccadic goals is subject to two different processes with different time courses: one fast activating process signaling the saliency and task relevance of a location and one slower inhibitory process suppressing that location.

scholarly journals Common Neural Substrates for Response Selection across Modalities and Mapping Paradigms

2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (8) ◽  
pp. 1080-1094 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhong Jiang ◽  
Nancy Kanwisher
Keyword(s):  
Response Selection ◽  
Target Position ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Human Information Processing ◽  
Central Process ◽  
Response Mapping ◽  
Manual Task ◽  
Central Processing ◽  
Auditory Tasks

In many situations, people can only compute one stimulus-to-response mapping at a time, suggesting that response selection constitutes a “central processing bottleneck” in human information processing. Using fMRI, we tested whether common or distinct brain regions were involved in response selection across visual and auditory inputs, and across spatial and nonspatial mapping rules. We isolated brain regions involved in response selection by comparing two conditions that were identical in perceptual input and motor output, but differed in the complexity of the mapping rule. In the visual—manual task of Experiment 1, four vertical lines were positioned from left to right, and subjects pressed one of four keys to report which line was unique in length. In the auditory—manual task of Experiment 2, four tones were presented in succession, and subjects pressed one of four keys to report which tone was unique in duration. For both visual and auditory tasks, the mapping between target position and key position was either spatially compatible or incompatible. In the verbal task of Experiment 3, subjects used nonspatial mappings that were either compatible (“same” if colors matched; “different” if they mismatched) or incompatible (the opposite). Extensive activation overlap was observed across all three experiments for incompatible versus compatible mapping in bilateral parietal and frontal regions. Our results indicate that common neural substrates are involved in response selection across input modalities and across spatial and nonspatial domains of stimulus-to-response mapping, consistent with behavioral evidence that response selection is a central process.

Stimulus Uncertainty and Reaction Time for Identification and Recognition

1976 ◽  
Vol 42 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1151-1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick J. Gravetter
Keyword(s):  
Response Selection ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Matching Condition ◽  
Stimulus Uncertainty ◽  
Verbal Responses ◽  
Manual Responses ◽  
Unique Identity ◽  
Time Required ◽  
Stimulus Identification ◽  
Selection Of

The process of stimulus identification was examined by comparing reaction times for two identification tasks. In Exp. 1, 12 subjects made manual responses for 2, 4, and 6 stimulus alternatives in a simple identification condition and in a matching condition which required a unique identity for each stimulus but not a unique response. In Exp. 2, 16 subjects made verbal responses in each condition. Results from both experiments showed that stimulus uncertainty directly affected RT for identification but had no significant effect on matching. It was concluded that the time required to recognize the identity of a stimulus is essentially independent of stimulus uncertainty, while response selection is directly dependent on uncertainty. Because this result was obtained for both verbal and manual responses, it was concluded that stimulus uncertainty primarily affects selection of responses rather than their execution.

scholarly journals Sounds are remapped across saccades

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Szinte ◽  
David Aagten-Murphy ◽  
Donatas Jonikaitis ◽  
Luca Wollenberg ◽  
Heiner Deubel
Keyword(s):  
Visual Space ◽  
Double Step ◽  
Visual Objects ◽  
Object Locations ◽  
Space Constancy ◽  
Saccade Task ◽  
Saccade Trajectory

AbstractTo achieve visual space constancy, our brain remaps eye-centered projections of visual objects across saccades. Here, we measured saccade trajectory curvature following the presentation of visual, auditory, and audiovisual distractors in a double-step saccade task to investigate if this stability mechanism also accounts for localized sounds. We found that saccade trajectories systematically curved away from the position at which either a light or a sound was presented, suggesting that both modalities are represented in eye-centered oculomotor centers. Importantly, the same effect was observed when the distractor preceded the execution of the first saccade. These results suggest that oculomotor centers keep track of visual, auditory and audiovisual objects by remapping their eye-centered representations across saccades. Furthermore, they argue for the existence of a supra-modal map which keeps track of multi-sensory object locations across our movements to create an impression of space constancy.

scholarly journals To look or not to look: Subliminal abrupt-onset cues influence constrained free-choice saccades

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seema Gorur Prasad ◽  
Ramesh Kumar Mishra
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Abrupt Onset ◽  
Saccade Latency ◽  
Attention Capture ◽  
Movement Behaviour ◽  
Manual Response ◽  
Attentional Control Settings ◽  
Task Relevancy

Subliminal cues have been shown to capture attention and modulate manual response behaviour but their impact on eye movement behaviour is not well-studied. In two experiments, we examined if subliminal cues influence constrained free-choice saccades and if this influence is under strategic control as a function of task-relevancy of the cues. On each trial, a display containing four filled circles at the centre of each quadrant was shown. A central coloured circle indicated the relevant visual field on each trial (Up or Down in Experiment 1; Left or Right in Experiment 2). Next, abrupt-onset cues were presented for 16 ms at one of the four locations. Participants were then asked to freely choose and make a saccade to one of the two target circles in the relevant visual field. The analysis of the frequency of saccades, saccade endpoint deviation and saccade latency revealed a significant influence of the relevant subliminal cues on saccadic decisions. Latency data showed reduced capture by spatially-irrelevant cues under some conditions. These results indicate that spatial attentional control settings as defined in our study could modulate the influence of subliminal abrupt-onset cues on eye movement behaviour. We situate the findings of this study in the attention-capture debate and discuss the implications for the subliminal cueing literature.   

scholarly journals Microstimulation of the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Biases Saccade Target Selection

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 893-904 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioan Opris ◽  
Andrei Barborica ◽  
Vincent P. Ferrera
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Saccade Target ◽  
Functional Link ◽  
Match To Sample ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Movement Field ◽  
Saccade Task

A long-standing issue concerning the executive function of the primate dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is how the activity of prefrontal neurons is linked to behavioral response selection. To establish a functional relationship between prefrontal memory fields and saccade target selection, we trained three macaque monkeys to make saccades to the remembered location of a visual cue in a delayed spatial match-to-sample saccade task. We electrically stimulated sites in the prefrontal cortex with subthreshold currents during the delay epoch while monkeys performed this task. Our results show that the artificially injected signal interacts with the neural activity responsible for target selection, biasing saccade choices either towards the receptive/movement field (RF/MF) or away from the RF/MF, depending on the stimulation site. These findings might reflect a functional link between prefrontal signals responsible for the selection bias by modulating the balance between excitation and inhibition in the competitive interactions underlying behavioral selection.

scholarly journals Influence of Coactors on Saccadic and Manual Responses

i-Perception ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 204166951769281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Oliva ◽  
Diederick C. Niehorster ◽  
Halszka Jarodzka ◽  
Kenneth Holmqvist
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Visual Discrimination ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Social Influences ◽  
Peripheral Stimulus ◽  
Antisaccade Task ◽  
Manual Response ◽  
Manual Responses ◽  
Attentional Load ◽  
The Social

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of coaction on saccadic and manual responses. Participants performed the experiments either in a solitary condition or in a group of coactors who performed the same tasks at the same time. In Experiment 1, participants completed a pro- and antisaccade task where they were required to make saccades towards (prosaccades) or away (antisaccades) from a peripheral visual stimulus. In Experiment 2, participants performed a visual discrimination task that required both making a saccade towards a peripheral stimulus and making a manual response in reaction to the stimulus’s orientation. The results showed that performance of stimulus-driven responses was independent of the social context, while volitionally controlled responses were delayed by the presence of coactors. These findings are in line with studies assessing the effect of attentional load on saccadic control during dual-task paradigms. In particular, antisaccades – but not prosaccades – were influenced by the type of social context. Additionally, the number of coactors present in the group had a moderating effect on both saccadic and manual responses. The results support an attentional view of social influences.

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