Response suppression produces a switch-cost for spatially compatible saccades

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Oculomotor Control
• Executive Functions

Background:

• Executive functions enable rapid task alternation and goal reconfiguration.
• Previous research shows a 'switch-cost' in reaction time (RT) when an antisaccade precedes a prosaccade, attributed to response suppression and vector inversion.
• The exact contribution of response suppression versus vector inversion to task-set inertia remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether response suppression alone is sufficient to cause task-set inertia.
• To differentiate the roles of response suppression and vector inversion in cognitive task switching.
• To examine the impact of different executive demands on oculomotor task performance.

Main Methods:

• Utilized stimulus-driven (SD) prosaccades and minimally delayed (MD) prosaccades in an AABB paradigm.
• MD prosaccades involved response suppression without vector inversion, isolating the effect of suppression.
• Measured reaction times (RTs), movement times, and movement amplitudes for task-switch and task-repeat trials.

Main Results:

• SD task-switch trials showed significantly longer and more variable RTs compared to task-repeat trials.
• MD task-switch and task-repeat trials did not exhibit reliable differences in RT.
• Movement times and amplitudes remained consistent across conditions, indicating no speed-accuracy trade-off.

Conclusions:

• Response suppression, an executive function, is sufficient to induce task-set inertia.
• This inertia selectively delays the planning of subsequent stimulus-driven prosaccades.
• Findings suggest a unitary role for response suppression in cognitive task-set interference.