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Microsaccadic responses in a bimodal oddball task

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Abstract

In a visual oddball task the presentation of rare targets induces a prolonged microsaccadic inhibition as compared to standards. Here, we replicated this effect also in the auditory modality. In addition, although auditory standards induced a more limited modulation of microsaccadic frequency as compared to visual standards, auditory oddballs induced a prolonged microsaccadic inhibition. With bimodal standard stimuli the microsaccadic response was determined by the attended modality, resembling that produced by attended unimodal stimuli. The present findings support the idea that the microsaccadic response to oddball and standard stimuli is partly driven by cognitive mechanisms common to both the visual and the auditory modality, and that microsaccades can be used as an implicit behavioral measure of ongoing cognitive processes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cognitive Sciences and Education, University of Trento, Corso Bettini, 31, 38068, Rovereto, Italy

    Matteo Valsecchi & Massimo Turatto

  2. Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy

    Massimo Turatto

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  1. Matteo Valsecchi
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  2. Massimo Turatto
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Correspondence to Matteo Valsecchi.

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Valsecchi, M., Turatto, M. Microsaccadic responses in a bimodal oddball task. Psychological Research 73, 23–33 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-008-0142-x

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