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Event-related potentials associated with correct and incorrect responses in a cued antisaccade task
S Everling1, A Spantekow, P Krappmann
1Brain Research Institute, University of Bremen, Germany. stefan@ss2.biomed.queensu.ca
Experimental Brain Research
|April 18, 1998
Summary
In a cued antisaccade task, researchers found that the supplementary eye fields are crucial for inhibiting incorrect eye movements (prosaccades). Event-related potentials revealed distinct neural activity patterns for correct antisaccades versus errors.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Oculomotor Research
Background:
- The antisaccade task requires inhibiting a reflexive saccade to a stimulus and making one in the opposite direction.
- Specific task conditions, like a gap period before stimulus onset and a valid cue, can increase errors (prosaccades) in healthy subjects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural processes underlying correct antisaccades and incorrect prosaccades using event-related potentials (ERPs).
- To explore the roles of the dorsomedial frontal cortex and parietal cortex in antisaccade task performance.
Main Methods:
- Recorded cerebral event-related potentials from 19 scalp electrodes in normal subjects during a cued antisaccade task.
- Analyzed ERPs associated with both correct antisaccade responses and incorrect prosaccade errors.
Main Results:
- A negative potential, maximal over the dorsomedial frontal cortex around stimulus onset, was observed for both correct antisaccades and incorrect prosaccades.
- This negative potential was significantly larger preceding correct antisaccades compared to incorrect prosaccades.
- A parietal potential shift from contralateral to ipsilateral hemisphere preceded correct antisaccades, suggesting processing of visual stimuli in the ipsilateral hemifield.
Conclusions:
- The supplementary eye fields are implicated in suppressing erroneous saccades during cued antisaccade tasks.
- The parietal cortex plays a role in creating a neural representation of visual stimuli in the ipsilateral hemifield before motor response execution.