Variation in antisaccadic response latencies investigated with the hierarchical LATER process model

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Psychophysiology

Background:

• The antisaccade task is a standard measure of inhibitory control.
• Traditionally, neutral stimuli are used, but emotional stimuli are increasingly employed.
• Contradictory findings exist regarding emotional stimuli's effect on inhibitory control.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of emotional versus neutral stimuli on inhibitory control using the antisaccade paradigm.
• To quantify cognitive parameters like accretion rate and caution threshold using a hierarchical LATER model.
• To explore differences in cognitive processing between various emotional facial expressions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized both neutral (circular) and emotional (face) stimuli in an antisaccade task.
• Included scrambled faces as a control for stimulus properties.
• Applied a hierarchical extension of the Linear Approach to Threshold Ergodic Rate (LATER) model.
• Estimated accretion rate (information accumulation speed) and caution threshold (decision threshold).

Main Results:

• Emotional stimuli led to a faster accretion rate and lower caution threshold compared to neutral stimuli.
• Scrambled faces showed a lower accretion rate and lower caution threshold.
• Subtle differences emerged between emotions: happy faces had faster accretion and higher caution than neutral, while fearful faces showed the opposite pattern.
• Results challenge previous findings of emotional stimuli hindering inhibitory control.

Conclusions:

• Emotional stimuli, particularly faces, appear to facilitate rather than impede inhibitory control processes.
• The LATER model effectively differentiates cognitive responses to various emotional stimuli.
• Findings suggest a nuanced interaction between emotion, stimulus type, and inhibitory control mechanisms.