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Updated: May 19, 2026
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Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity
Published on: March 18, 2019
Response selection in prosaccades, antisaccades, and other volitional saccades
Lisa Kloft1, Benedikt Reuter, Jayalakshmi Viswanathan
1Lehrstuhl für Klinische Psychologie, Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Rudower Chaussee 18, 12489, Berlin, Germany. kloftliv@cms.hu-berlin.de
Experimental Brain Research
|August 23, 2012
Summary
Investigating saccadic eye movements, this study reveals distinct response selection mechanisms. Antisaccades and cued saccades show varied reaction times, suggesting differences in cognitive processing during visual tasks.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Ophthalmology
- Experimental Psychology
Background:
- Saccades, rapid eye movements, are crucial for visual processing.
- Both antisaccades and volitional saccades involve active response selection, but underlying mechanisms remain debated.
- Response selection demands can be modulated by increasing the number of potential responses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare response selection mechanisms in prosaccades, antisaccades, and cued saccades (arrow and number).
- To investigate how increasing response alternatives (from two to six) affects reaction times in different saccade tasks.
- To elucidate the distinct components of saccadic processing, including response triggering and selection.
Main Methods:
- Participants performed prosaccade, antisaccade, arrow-cued, and number-cued saccade tasks.
- Tasks were conducted in blocks with either two or six possible responses.
- Reaction times were measured and analyzed based on saccade type and number of response alternatives.
Main Results:
- In two-response blocks, prosaccades and antisaccades were fastest; arrow-cued and number-cued saccades were slowest.
- Increasing response alternatives paradoxically decreased prosaccade reaction times.
- Arrow-cued saccades were unaffected, while number-cued saccades showed significantly increased reaction times.
- Antisaccade reaction times showed an intermediate increase with more response alternatives.
Conclusions:
- Saccadic processing involves distinct components: rapid response triggering (peripheral stimuli) and demanding response selection (central stimuli).
- Response selection is more effortful for antisaccades and number-cued saccades compared to prosaccades and arrow-cued saccades.
- The findings suggest that direct stimulus-response mapping and over-learned symbols facilitate more automatic saccadic processing.
