The search for oculomotor inhibition: interactions with working memory

When a saccadic target is presented simultaneously with a distractor, the distractor has to be inhibited in order to successfully perform an eye movement to the target. Insufficient inhibition results in an erroneous eye movement to the distractor. This study investigated whether the influence of a distractor on eye movements is mediated by working memory. A working memory task was added to a saccadic paradigm in which an irrelevant element had to be inhibited. Results show that participants made more erroneous saccades to the distractor when working memory was occupied. This suggests that working memory is involved in the oculomotor inhibition of saccadic distractors.