Comparison of perceptual and motor decisions via confidence judgments and saccade curvature

This study investigated the effects on perceptual and motor decisions of low-contrast distractors, presented 5 degrees on the left and/or the right of the fixation point. Perceptual decisions were assessed with a yes/no (distractor) detection task. Motor decisions were assessed via these distractors' effects on the trajectory of an impending saccade to a distinct imperative stimulus, presented 10 degrees above fixation 50 ms after the distractor(s). Saccade curvature models postulate that distractors activate loci on a motor map that evoke reflexive saccades and that the distractor evoked activity is inhibited to prevent reflexive orienting to the cost of causing a saccade curvature away from the distractor. Depending on whether or not each of these processes depends on perceptual detection, one can predict the relationships between saccades' curvature and perceptual responses (classified as correct rejections, misses, false alarms, and hits). The results show that saccades curve away from distractors only when observers report them to be present. Furthermore, saccade deviation is correlated (on a trial-by-trial basis) with the inferred internal response associated with the perceptual report: the stronger the distractor-evoked perceptual response, the more saccades deviate away from the distractor. Also in contrast with a supersensitive motor system, perceptual sensitivity is systematically higher than the motor sensitivity derived from the distributions of the saccades' curvatures. Finally, when both distractors are present (and straight saccades are expected), the sign of saccades' curvature is correlated with observers' perceptual bias/criterion. Overall the results point to a strong perceptual-motor association.