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Does gaze cueing produce automatic response activation: a lateralized readiness potential (LRP) study
L Vainio1, M Heimola1, H Heino1
1Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Division of Cognitive and Neuropsychology, University of Helsinki, Siltavuorenpenger 5 A, PL 9, 00014, Finland.
Neuroscience Letters
|March 25, 2014
Summary
Gaze cues guide attention like arrows, but unlike arrows, they don't automatically prepare hand movements. This study found gaze cues affect behavior but not motor preparation, suggesting they work at the eye movement level.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human attention research
Background:
- Gaze cues and central arrow cues both orient attention reflexively.
- Attention orienting is linked to automatic hand-motor response preparation, measurable by the lateralized readiness potential (LRP).
- Previous studies show arrow cues elicit LRPs, indicating motor activation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if gaze cues also trigger automatic hand-motor activation, as indicated by LRPs.
- To compare the neural mechanisms of gaze cueing versus arrow cueing.
- To determine if gaze cues influence motor preparation.
Main Methods:
- Behavioral measurements of reaction times to targets following gaze cues.
- Electrophysiological recordings of the lateralized readiness potential (LRP).
- Comparison of LRPs elicited by gaze cues versus arrow cues.
Main Results:
- A standard gaze cueing effect was observed in behavioral data.
- No consistent automatic hand-motor activation was found in the LRP data for gaze cues.
- Arrow cues, as expected, did elicit LRPs.
Conclusions:
- Gaze cueing effects may rely on processes solely within oculomotor programming.
- The automatic motor preparation seen with arrow cues is not replicated with gaze cues.
- Attention orienting via gaze cues might not involve the same motor pathways as symbolic cues.
