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Cognitive control can modulate intersensory facilitation: speeding up visual antisaccades with an auditory distractor
Holle Kirchner1, Hans Colonius
1Department of Psychology, Oldenburg University, Ammerländer Heerstrasse 111-114, 26111, Oldenburg, Germany. holle.kirchner@cerco.ups-tlse.fr
Experimental Brain Research
|July 22, 2005
Summary
Auditory stimuli speed up antisaccade reaction times, similar to prosaccades. This intersensory facilitation effect (IFE) is a bottom-up process, but target predictability can modulate it.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Sensory Integration
Background:
- Saccadic reaction times are typically faster with auditory stimuli.
- Intersensory facilitation effect (IFE) aids visual reaction times but is unexplored for antisaccades.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the intersensory facilitation effect (IFE) on antisaccade reaction times.
- To determine if auditory stimuli influence eye movement responses away from a visual target.
Main Methods:
- Participants performed antisaccades to visual targets.
- Auditory stimuli were presented at congruent or incongruent locations with varying onset asynchronies.
- Reaction times for unimodal visual, unimodal auditory, and bimodal stimuli were compared.
Main Results:
- Antisaccade reaction times were faster with auditory and bimodal stimuli compared to unimodal visual stimuli.
- Auditory stimuli approximated prosaccade reaction times, especially when presented 40 ms before a spatially congruent visual target.
- Target predictability modulated IFE only when the auditory stimulus was spatially incongruent and presented 40 ms prior.
Conclusions:
- Intersensory facilitation is a mandatory, bottom-up process in eye movement control.
- IFE for antisaccades can be modulated by target location predictability, particularly in response conflict scenarios.