The unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost: electroencephalographic evidence of task-set inertia in oculomotor control

The execution of an antisaccade selectively increases the reaction time (RT) of a subsequent prosaccade (the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost). To explain this finding, the task-set inertia hypothesis asserts that an antisaccade requires a cognitively mediated non-standard task-set that persists inertially and delays the planning of a subsequent prosaccade. The present study sought to directly test the theoretical tenets of the task-set inertia hypothesis by examining the concurrent behavioural and the event-related brain potential (ERP) data associated with the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost. Participants pseudo-randomly alternated between pro- and antisaccades while electroencephalography (EEG) data were recorded. As expected, the completion of an antisaccade selectively increased the RT of a subsequent prosaccade, whereas the converse switch did not influence RTs. Thus, the behavioural results demonstrated the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost. In terms of the ERP findings, we observed a reliable change in the amplitude of the P3 - time-locked to task-instructions - when trials were switched from a prosaccade to an antisaccade; however, no reliable change was observed when switching from an antisaccade to a prosaccade. This is a salient finding because extensive work has shown that the P3 provides a neural index of the task-set required to execute a to-be-completed response. As such, results showing that prosaccades completed after antisaccades exhibited increased RTs in combination with a P3 amplitude comparable to antisaccades provides convergent evidence that the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost is attributed to the persistent activation of a non-standard antisaccade task-set.