scholarly journals Factors Influencing Saccadic Reaction Time: Effect of Task Modality, Stimulus Saliency, Spatial Congruency of Stimuli, and Pupil Size

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shimpei Yamagishi ◽  
Shigeto Furukawa

It is often assumed that the reaction time of a saccade toward visual and/or auditory stimuli reflects the sensitivities of our oculomotor-orienting system to stimulus saliency. Endogenous factors, as well as stimulus-related factors, would also affect the saccadic reaction time (SRT). However, it was not clear how these factors interact and to what extent visual and auditory-targeting saccades are accounted for by common mechanisms. The present study examined the effect of, and the interaction between, stimulus saliency and audiovisual spatial congruency on the SRT for visual- and for auditory-target conditions. We also analyzed pre-target pupil size to examine the relationship between saccade preparation and pupil size. Pupil size is considered to reflect arousal states coupling with locus-coeruleus (LC) activity during a cognitive task. The main findings were that (1) the pattern of the examined effects on the SRT varied between visual- and auditory-auditory target conditions, (2) the effect of stimulus saliency was significant for the visual-target condition, but not significant for the auditory-target condition, (3) Pupil velocity, not absolute pupil size, was sensitive to task set (i.e., visual-targeting saccade vs. auditory-targeting saccade), and (4) there was a significant correlation between the pre-saccade absolute pupil size and the SRTs for the visual-target condition but not for the auditory-target condition. The discrepancy between target modalities for the effect of pupil velocity and between the absolute pupil size and pupil velocity for the correlation with SRT may imply that the pupil effect for the visual-target condition was caused by a modality-specific link between pupil size modulation and the SC rather than by the LC-NE (locus coeruleus-norepinephrine) system. These results support the idea that different threshold mechanisms in the SC may be involved in the initiation of saccades toward visual and auditory targets.

2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 533-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Guimarães-Silva ◽  
L.G. Gawryszewski ◽  
T.S. Portugal ◽  
L. Klausner-de-Oliveira

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominika Drążyk ◽  
Marcus Missal

Abstract Expected surprise could be defined as the anticipation of the uncertainty associated with the future occurrence of a target of interest. We hypothesized that spatial expected surprise could have a different impact on anticipatory and visual gaze orientation. This hypothesis was tested in humans using a saccadic reaction time task in which a cue indicated the future position of a stimulus. In the ‘no expected surprise’ condition, the visual target could appear only at the previously cued location. In other conditions, more likely future positions were cued with increasing expected surprise. Anticipation was more frequent and pupil size was larger in the no expected surprise condition compared with all other conditions. The latency of visually-guided saccades increased linearly with the logarithm of surprise but their maximum velocity did not.In conclusion, before stimulus appearance oculomotor responses were altered probably due to increased arousal in the no expected surprise condition. After stimulus appearance, the saccadic decision signal could be scaled logarithmically as a function of surprise (Hick’s law). However, maximum velocity also reflected increased arousal in the no surprise condition. Therefore, expected surprise alters the balance between anticipatory and visually-guided responses and differently affects movement kinematics and latency.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Hopf ◽  
Caroline Nowak ◽  
Julia B. Hennermann ◽  
Irene Schmidtmann ◽  
Norbert Pfeiffer ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 252c
Author(s):  
Sebastiaan Mathôt ◽  
Adina Wagner ◽  
Michael Hanke

2013 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-353
Author(s):  
Walter Machado-Pinheiro ◽  
Aydamari Faria ◽  
Filipe Braga ◽  
Pedro Guerra ◽  
Pandelis Perakakis ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (7) ◽  
pp. 2166-2183
Author(s):  
Shayne Sanscartier ◽  
Jessica A. Maxwell ◽  
Penelope Lockwood

Attachment avoidance (discomfort with closeness and intimacy) has been inconsistently linked to visual disengagement from emotional faces, with some studies finding disengagement toward specific emotional faces and others finding no effects. Although most studies use stranger faces as stimuli, it is likely that attachment effects would be most pronounced in the context of attachment relationships. The present study ( N = 92) combined ecologically valid stimuli (i.e., pictures of romantic partner’s face) with eye-tracking methods to more precisely test whether highly avoidant individuals are faster at disengaging from emotional faces. Unexpectedly, attachment avoidance had no effect on saccadic reaction time, regardless of face type or emotion. Instead, all participants took longer to disengage from romantic partner faces than from strangers’ faces, although this effect should be replicated in the future. Our results suggest that romantic attachments capture visual attention on an oculomotor level, regardless of one’s personal attachment orientations.


Medicina ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shengyan Sun ◽  
Paul D. Loprinzi ◽  
Hongwei Guan ◽  
Liye Zou ◽  
Zhaowei Kong ◽  
...  

Background and Objectives: Limited research has evaluated the effects of acute exercise on cognition under different conditions of inspired oxygenation. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of high-intensity interval exercise (HIE) under normoxia (inspired fraction of oxygen (FIO2): 0.209) and moderate hypoxia (FIO2: 0.154) on cognitive function. Design: A single-blinded cross-over design was used to observe the main effects of exercise and oxygen level, and interaction effects on cognitive task performance. Methods: Twenty inactive adults (10 males and 10 females, 19–27 years old) performed a cognitive task (i.e., the Go/No-Go task) before and immediately after an acute bout of HIE under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. The HIE comprised 10 repetitions of 6 s high-intensity cycling against 7.5% body weight interspersed with 30 s passive recovery. Heart rate, peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) and rating of perceived exertion were monitored. Results: The acute bout of HIE did not affect the reaction time (p = 0.204, η2 = 0.083) but the accuracy rate decreased significantly after HIE under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions (p = 0.001, η2 = 0.467). Moreover, moderate hypoxia had no influence either on reaction time (p = 0.782, η2 = 0.004) or response accuracy (p = 0.972, η2 < 0.001). Conclusions: These results indicate that an acute session of HIE may impair response accuracy immediately post-HIE, without sacrificing reaction time. Meanwhile moderate hypoxia was found to have no adverse effect on cognitive function in inactive young adults, at least in the present study.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document