Abstract
It has been reported that anti-saccade performance is facilitated by diverting attention through a secondary task (Kristjánsson et al. in Nat Neurosci 4:1037–1042, 2001). This finding supports the idea that the withdrawal of resources that would be taken up by the erroneous movement plan makes it easier to overcome the tendency to look towards the imperative stimulus. We first report an attempt to replicate this finding. Four observers were extensively tested in an anti-saccade paradigm. The luminance of the fixation point or peripheral target was briefly increased or decreased. In the dual-task condition observers signalled the direction of the luminance change. In the single-task condition the discrimination stimulus was presented, but could be ignored as it required no response. We found an overall dual-task cost in anti-saccade latency, although some facilitation was observed in the accuracy. The discrepancy between the two studies was attributed to performance in the single-task condition. For latency facilitation to occur, performance should not be affected by the discrimination stimulus when it is task-irrelevant. We show that naive, untrained observers could not ignore this irrelevant visual event. If it occurred before the imperative movement signal, the event acted as a warning signal, speeding up anti-saccade generation. If it occurred after the imperative movement stimulus, it acted as a remote distractor and interfered with the generation of the correct movement. Under normal circumstances, these basic oculomotor effects operate in both single- and dual-task conditions. An overall dual-task cost rides on top of this latency modulation. This overall cost is best accounted for by an increase in the response criterion for saccade generation in the more demanding dual-task condition.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arai K, Keller EL (2005) A model of the saccade-generating system that accounts for trajectory variations produced by competing visual stimuli. Biol Cybern 92:21–37
Bompas A, Sumner P (2009) Temporal dynamics of saccadic distraction. J Vis 9:17
Born S, Kerzel D (2008) Influence of target and distractor contrast on the remote distractor effect. Vis Res 48:2805–2816
Buonocore A, McIntosh RD (2008) Saccadic inhibition underlies the remote distractor effect. Exp Brain Res 191:117–122
Carrier LM, Pashler H (1995) Attentional limits in memory retrieval. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 21:1339–1348
Cutsuridis V, Smyrnis N, Evdokimidis I, Perantonis S (2007) A neural model of decision-making by the superior colicullus in an antisaccade task. Neural Netw 20:690–704
Dyckman KA, Mcdowell JE (2005) Behavioral plasticity of antisaccade performance following daily practice. Exp Brain Res 162:63–69
Enns JT, Austen EL, Di Lollo V, Rauschenberger R, Yantis S (2001) New objects dominate luminance transients in setting attentional priority. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 27:1287–1302
Ettinger U, Kumari V, Crawford TJ, Davis RE, Sharma T, Corr PJ et al (2003) Reliability of smooth pursuit, fixation, and saccadic eye movements. Psychophysiology 40:620–628
Evdokimidis I, Smyrnis N, Constantinidis TS, Stefanis NC, Avramopoulos D, Paximadis C et al (2002) The antisaccade task in a sample of 2, 006 young men. I. Normal population characteristics. Exp Brain Res 147:45–52
Everling S, Fischer B (1998) The antisaccade: a review of basic research and clinical studies. Neuropsychologia 36:885–899
Farrell S, Ludwig CJH, Ellis LA, Gilchrist ID (2010) The influence of environmental statistics on inhibition of saccadic return. Proc Natl Acad Sci 107:929–934
Fecteau JH, Munoz DP (2006) Salience, relevance, and firing: a priority map for target selection. Trends Cogn Sci 10:382–390
Fecteau JH, Bell AH, Munoz DP (2004) Neural correlates of the automatic and goal-driven biases in orienting spatial attention. J Neurophysiol 92:1728–1737
Fischer B, Weber H (1992) Characteristics of “anti” saccades in man. Exp Brain Res 89:415–424
Folk CL, Remington RW, Johnston JC (1992) Involuntary covert orienting is contingent on attentional control settings. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 18:1030–1044
Hallett P (1978) Primary and secondary saccades to goals defined by instructions. Vis Res 18:1279–1296
Kopecz K (1995) Saccadic reaction times in gap overlap paradigms: a model based on integration of intentional and visual information on neural, dynamic fields. Vis Res 35:2911–2925
Kristjánsson A, Chen Y, Nakayama K (2001) Less attention is more in the preparation of antisaccades, but not prosaccades. Nat Neurosci 4:1037–1042
Kristjánsson A, Vandenbroucke MW, Driver J (2004) When pros become cons for anti-versus prosaccades: factors with opposite or common effects on different saccade types. Exp Brain Res 155:231–244
Ludwig CJH, Gilchrist ID (2003) Goal-driven modulation of oculomotor capture. Percept Psychophys 65:1243–1251
Ludwig CJH, Gilchrist ID, McSorley E (2005) The remote distractor effect in saccade programming: channel interactions and lateral inhibition. Vis Res 45:1177–1190
Ludwig CJH, Mildinhall JW, Gilchrist ID (2007) A population coding account for systematic variation in saccadic dead time. J Neurophysiol 97:795–805
Ludwig CJH, Ranson A, Gilchrist ID (2008) Oculomotor capture by transient events: a comparison of abrupt onsets, offsets, motion, and flicker. J Vis 8:11
Massen C (2004) Parallel programming of exogenous and endogenous components in the antisaccade task. Q J Exp Psychol 57:475–498
McPeek RM (2006) Incomplete suppression of distractor-related activity in the frontal eye field results in curved saccades. J Neurophysiol 96:2699–2711
McPeek RM, Keller EL (2002) Superior colliculus activity related to concurrent processing of saccade goals in a visual search task. J Neurophysiol 87:1805–1815
McPeek RM, Han JH, Keller EL (2003) Competition between saccade goals in the superior colliculus produces saccade curvature. J Neurophysiol 89:2577–2590
Mitchell JP, Macrae CN, Gilchrist ID (2002) Working memory and the suppression of reflexive saccades. J Cogn Neurosci 14:95–103
Munoz DP, Everling S (2004) Look away: the anti-saccade task and the voluntary control of eye movement. Nat Rev Neurosci 5:218–228
Olivier E, Dorris MC, Munoz DP (1999) Lateral interactions in the superior colliculus, not an extended fixation zone, can account for the remote distracter effect. Behav Brain Sci 22:694–695
Pashler H (1994) Dual-task interference in simple tasks: data and theory. Psychol Bull 116:220–244
Pashler H, Carrier M, Hoffman J (1993) Saccadic eye-movements and dual-task interference. Q J Exp Psychol A 46:51–82
Port NL, Wurtz RH (2003) Sequential activity of simultaneously recorded neurons in the superior colliculus during curved saccades. J Neurophysiol 90:1887–1903
Reddi BAJ, Carpenter RHS (2000) The influence of urgency on decision time. Nat Neurosci 3:827–830
Reingold EM, Stampe DM (2002) Saccadic inhibition in voluntary and reflexive saccades. J Cogn Neurosci 14:371–388
Reuter-Lorenz PA, Oonk HM, Barnes LL, Hughes HC (1995) Effects of warning signals and fixation point offsets on the latencies of pro- versus antisaccades: implications for an interpretation of the gap effect. Exp Brain Res 103:287–293
Roberts RJ, Hager LD, Heron C (1994) Prefrental cognitive processes : working memory and inhibition in the antisaccade task. J Exp Psychol Gen 123:374–393
Ross LE, Ross SM (1980) Saccade latency and warning signals: stimulus onset, offset, and change as warning events. Percept Psychophys 27:251–257
Stuyven E, Van Der Goten K, Vandierendonck A, Claeys K, Crevits C (2000) The effect of cognitive load on saccadic eye movements. Acta Psychol 104:69–85
Trappenberg TP, Dorris MC, Munoz DP, Klein RM (2001) A model of saccade initiation based on the competitive integration of exogenous and endogenous signals in the superior colliculus. J Cogn Neurosci 13:256–271
Van Zandt T (2000) How to fit a response time distribution. Psychon Bull Rev 7:424–465
Walker R, Kentridge RW, Findlay JM (1995) Independent contributions of the orienting of attention, fixation offset and bilateral stimulation on human saccadic latencies. Exp Brain Res 103:294–310
Walker R, Deubel H, Schneider WX, Findlay JM (1997) Effect of remote distractors on saccade programming: evidence for an extended fixation zone. J Neurophysiol 78:1108–1119
Weber H, Dürr N, Fischer B (1998) Effects of pre-cues on voluntary and reflexive saccade generation II: Pro-cues for anti-saccades. Exp Brain Res 120:417–431
White BJ, Gegenfurtner KR, Kerzel D (2005) Effects of structured nontarget stimuli on saccadic latency. J Neurophysiol 93:3214–3223
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship to CL (EP/E054323/1). DE is supported by an EPSRC Doctoral Training Grant.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Evens, D.R., Ludwig, C.J.H. Dual-task costs and benefits in anti-saccade performance. Exp Brain Res 205, 545–557 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-010-2393-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-010-2393-1