Antisaccades and Executive Control

Tarnowski, Adam · 2013 · Crossref

DOI: 10.13174/pjamp.19.04.2013.1

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Summary

This study investigates the relationship between working memory load and executive control during the antisaccade task, a paradigm requiring subjects to inhibit reflexive eye movements toward a stimulus and instead look in the opposite direction. The research addresses the theoretical question of how central executive resources are allocated when performing controlled oculomotor tasks alongside memory demands. While previous research on prosaccades (reflexive movements toward stimuli) indicated that increasing memory workload linearly decreased reaction times—suggesting a shift toward automated processing—this study aimed to determine if a similar effect occurs in the more cognitively demanding antisaccade task. The authors hypothesized that increasing verbal memory load would engage central executive resources, thereby altering reaction times and error rates in antisaccade performance. The experiment involved 26 university students (12 men, 14 women) aged 19 to 29. Participants performed five series of antisaccade trials, each associated with a different verbal memory workload: no memory task, or memorizing sets of 1, 3, 5, or 7 letters. Eye movements were recorded using an Ober2 Oculograph while subjects maintained fixation on a central cross. Upon the appearance of a stimulus in one of two peripheral frames, participants were instructed to saccade to the opposite frame. The order of memory loads was counterbalanced using a Latin square design. The primary metrics analyzed were saccadic reaction time and the proportion of incorrect saccades (movements toward the stimulus rather than away from it). The results revealed a statistically significant but non-linear effect of memory workload on reaction times. Reaction times decreased abruptly when any memory task was introduced compared to the no-memory condition, after which they remained relatively constant regardless of further increases in memory load. Contrary to the hypothesis that increased cognitive load would lead to more errors due to resource competition, the proportion of incorrect antisaccades remained nearly constant across all memory conditions and was not statistically significant. Notably, fewer errors occurred in the neutral condition without memory workload. The authors suggest that the memory task may have reduced the executive resources available for intentional control, leading to a reliance on reflex mechanisms, or that the passive maintenance of memory items did not compete actively with the saccadic control processes. The study concludes that in a dual-task paradigm, increasing the difficulty of one task (memory load) does not necessarily increase the processing time of the second task (antisaccades). Instead, the engagement of resources in the primary task may lead to automation of the secondary task, decreasing reaction times without affecting accuracy. This finding contrasts with some previous studies that predicted slower reaction times due to resource competition. The results imply that the antisaccade task, while requiring executive control, may operate differently than prosaccades under memory load, potentially due to the specific nature of inhibitory control versus reflexive guidance. The study highlights the complexity of resource allocation in oculomotor tasks and suggests that passive memory maintenance may not impose the same competitive demands on executive resources as active cognitive processing.

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• executive function