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Task-switching effects for visual and auditory pro- and antisaccades: evidence for a task-set inertia
Matthew Heath1, Faryn Starrs, Ewan Macpherson
1a School of Kinesiology, The University of Western Ontario , London , Canada.
Journal of Motor Behavior
|January 14, 2015
Summary
Switching from an antisaccade task to a prosaccade task delays reaction time (RT). This study found that task-set inertia, not coordinate system transformation, explains this prosaccade switch-cost.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Oculomotor Research
- Human Factors
Background:
- Antisaccade tasks, which involve looking away from a stimulus, delay subsequent prosaccade reaction times (RTs).
- Two hypotheses explain this: task-set inertia (persistent nonstandard task demands) and coordinate system transformation (inhibitory demands of spatial transformations).
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the coordinate system transformation hypothesis by examining switch-costs for pro- and antisaccades using both visual and auditory targets.
- To determine if auditory saccades, requiring coordinate transformations, elicit bidirectional switch-costs as predicted by the coordinate system transformation hypothesis.
Main Methods:
- Participants performed pro- and antisaccades to visual and auditory targets.
- Reaction times (RTs), movement time, and kinematic variables (e.g., velocity) were measured to assess switch-costs.
Main Results:
- A reliable and equivalent prosaccade switch-cost was observed for both visual and auditory modalities.
- Performance and kinematic data indicated the switch-cost was confined to the response planning stage.
- Results were inconsistent with the coordinate system transformation hypothesis.
Conclusions:
- The findings contradict the coordinate system transformation hypothesis for prosaccade planning.
- Convergent evidence supports the task-set inertia hypothesis as the primary contributor to prosaccade switch-costs.
- Task-set inertia explains the persistent delay in reaction time following an antisaccade task.
