Abstract
In the antisaccade task participants are required to overcome the strong tendency to saccade towards a sudden onset target, and instead make a saccade to the mirror image location. The task thus provides a powerful tool with which to study the cognitive processes underlying goal directed behaviour, and has become a widely used index of “disinhibition” in a range of clinical populations. Across two experiments we explored the role of top-down strategic influences on antisaccade performance by varying the instructions that participants received. Instructions to delay making a response resulted in a significant increase in correct antisaccade latencies and reduction in erroneous prosaccades towards the target. Instructions to make antisaccades as quickly as possible resulted in faster correct responses, whereas instructions to be as spatially accurate as possible increased correct antisaccade latencies. Neither of these manipulations resulted in a significant change in error rate. In a second experiment, participants made fewer errors in delayed pro and antisaccade tasks than in a standard antisaccade task. The implications of these results for current models of antisaccade performance, and the interpretation of antisaccade deficits in clinical populations are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Carpenter RHS (1981) Oculomotor procrastination. In: Fisher DF, Monty RA, Senders JW (eds) Eye movements: cognition and visual perception. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, UK, pp 237–246
Carpenter RHS, Williams MLL (1995) Neural computation of log likelihood in the control of saccadic eye movements. Nature 377:59–62
Christensen BK, Girard TA, Benjamin AS, Vidailhet P (2006) Evidence for impaired mnemonic strategy use among patients with schizophrenia using the part-list cuing paradigm. Schizophrenia Res 85:1–11
Evdokimidis I, Smyrnis N, Constantinidis TS, Stefanis NC, Avramopoulos D, Paximadis C, Theleritis C, Efstratidis C, Kastrinakis G, Stefanis CN (2002) The antisaccade task in a sample of 2,006 young men. I. Normal population characteristics. Exp Brain Res 147:45–52
Everling S, Fischer B (1998) The antisaccade: a review of basic research and clinical studies. Neuropsychologia 36:885–899
Everling S, Dorris MC, Klein RM, Munoz DP (1999) Role of primate superior colliculus in preparation and execution of anti-saccades and pro-saccades. J Neurosci 19:2740–2754
Godijn R, Theeuwes J (2002) Programming of endogenous and exogenous saccades: evidence for a competitive integration model. J Exp Psychol Human Perception Perform 28:1039–1054
Guyader N, Malsert J, Marendaz C (2008) Having to identify a target reduces latencies in prosaccades but not in antisaccades. Psychol Res. doi:10.1007/s00426-008-0218-7
Hallett PE, Adams BD (1980) The predictability of saccadic latency in a novel voluntary oculomotor task. Vision Res 20:329–339
Hanes DP, Schall JD (1996) Neural control of voluntary movement initiation. Science 274:427–430
Hutton SB (2008) Cognitive control of saccadic eye movements. Brain Cognition 68:327–340
Hutton SB, Ettinger U (2006) The antisaccade task as a research tool in psychopathology: a critical review. Psychophysiology 43:302–313
Hutton SB, Puri BK, Duncan LJ, Robbins TW, Barnes TR, Joyce EM (1998) Executive function in first-episode schizophrenia. Psychol Med 28:463–473
Hutton S, Joyce E, Barnes T, Kennard C (2002) Saccadic distractibility in first-episode schizophrenia. Neuropsychologia 40:1729–1736
Hutton SB, Huddy V, Barnes TR, Robbins TW, Crawford TJ, Kennard C, Joyce EM (2004) The relationship between antisaccades, smooth pursuit, and executive dysfunction in first-episode schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry 15:553–559
Krauzlis RJ, Basso MA, Wurtz RH (1997) Shared motor error for multiple eye movements. Science 276:1693–1695
Machado L, Rafal RD (2000) Strategic control over saccadic eye movements: studies of the fixation offset effect. Percept Psychophys 62:1236–1242
Massen C (2004) Parallel programming of exogenous and endogenous components in the antisaccade task. Quart J Exp Psychol A 57:475–498
Meyniel C, Rivaud-Péchoux S, Damier P, Gaymard B (2005) Saccade impairments in patients with fronto-temporal dementia. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 76:1581–1584
Mokler A, Fischer B (1999) The recognition and correction of involuntary prosaccades in an antisaccade task. Exp Brain Res 125:511–516
Mosimann U, Felblinger J, Colloby S, Müri R (2004) Verbal instructions and top-down saccade control. Exp Brain Res 159:263–267
Munoz D, Everling S (2004) Look away: the anti-saccade task and the voluntary control of eye movement. Nature Rev Neurosci 5:218–228
Munoz D, Fecteau J (2002) Vying for dominance: dynamic interactions control visual fixation and saccadic initiation in the superior colliculus. Prog Brain Res 140:3–19
Munoz DP, Istvan PJ (1998) Lateral inhibitory interactions in the intermediate layers of the monkey superior colliculus. J Neurophysiol 79:1193–1209
Munoz DP, Wurtz RH (1993) Fixation cells in monkey superior colliculus. II. Reversible activation and deactivation. J Neurophysiol 70:576–589
Reuter B, Kathmann N (2004) Using saccade tasks as a tool to analyze executive dysfunctions in schizophrenia. Acta Psychol 115:255–269
Reuter B, Rakusan L, Kathmann N (2005) Poor antisaccade performance in schizophrenia: an inhibition deficit? Psychiatry Res 135:1–10
Reuter B, Jager M, Bottlender R, Kathmann N (2007) Impaired action control in schizophrenia: the role of volitional saccade initiation. Neuropsychologia 45:1840–1848
Roberts RJ, Hager LD, Heron C (1994) Prefrontal cognitive processes: working memory and inhibition in the antisaccade task. J Exp Psychol Gen 123:374–393
Rycroft N, Hutton SB, Rusted JM (2006) The antisaccade task as an index of sustained goal activation in working memory: modulation by nicotine. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 188:521–529
Smyrnis N, Evdokimidis I, Stefanis NC, Avramopoulos D, Constantinidis TS, Stavropoulos A, Stefanis CN (2003) Antisaccade performance of 1,273 men: effects of schizotypy, anxiety, and depression. J Abnormal Psychol 112:403–414
Tatler B, Hutton S (2007) Trial by trial effects in the antisaccade task. Exp Brain Res 179:387–396
Taylor AJG, Hutton SB (2007) The effects of individual differences on cued antisaccade performance. J Eye Movement Res 1(5):1–9
Trappenberg TP, Dorris MC, Munoz DP, Klein RM (2001) A model of saccade initiation based on the competitive integration of exogenous and endogenous signals in the superior colliculus. J Cognitive Neurosci 13:256–271
Trottier L, Pratt J (2005) Visual processing of targets can reduce saccadic latencies. Vision Res 45:1349–1354
Van Koningsbruggen MG, Rafal RD (2008) Control of oculomotor reflexes: independent effects of strategic and automatic preparation. Exp Brain Res 192:761–768
Walker R, McSorley E (2006) The parallel programming of voluntary and reflexive saccades. Vision Res 46:2082–2093
Walker R, Husain M, Hodgson TL, Harrison J, Kennard C (1998) Saccadic eye movement and working memory deficits following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Neuropsychologia 36:1149–1151
Walker R, Walker D, Husain M, Kennard C (2000) Control of voluntary and reflexive saccades. Exp Brain Res 130:540–544
Wenban-Smith MG, Findlay JM (1991) Express saccades: is there a separate population in humans? Exp Brain Res 87:218–222
Wickelgren WA (1977) Speed-accuracy trade off and information processing dynamics. Acta Psychol 4:67–85
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Taylor, A.J.G., Hutton, S.B. The effects of task instructions on pro and antisaccade performance. Exp Brain Res 195, 5–14 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-1750-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-1750-4