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Behavioral plasticity of antisaccade performance following daily practice
Kara A Dyckman1, Jennifer E McDowell
1Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-3013, USA.
Experimental Brain Research
|November 20, 2004
Summary
Practicing eye movement tasks can change behavioral plasticity. Daily training on antisaccade tasks improved accuracy without sacrificing speed, while prosaccade training increased errors.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Behavioral Psychology
Background:
- Behavioral plasticity allows adaptation to environmental changes.
- Eye movement control is crucial for daily cognitive tasks.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how different eye movement task training affects antisaccade task performance.
- To determine if practice can enhance or impair behavioral plasticity in eye movement control.
Main Methods:
- Thirty subjects were trained on one of three eye movement tasks: antisaccade, prosaccade, or fixation.
- Participants completed daily practice over two weeks, with testing at three time points.
- Performance was measured by error rates and reaction times on the antisaccade task.
Main Results:
- Antisaccade training significantly reduced error rates while maintaining reaction time.
- Prosaccade task practice led to increased errors in subsequent antisaccade tasks.
- Fixation task practice showed no significant changes in antisaccade performance.
Conclusions:
- Deliberate practice of specific eye movement tasks can modulate antisaccade performance.
- The impact of practice on behavioral plasticity is task-dependent.
- Training can specifically improve antisaccade accuracy or inadvertently impair it.