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Giving subjects the eye and showing them the finger: Socio-biological cues and saccade generation in the anti-saccade task.

Gregory, N. J. and Hodgson, T. L., 2012. Giving subjects the eye and showing them the finger: Socio-biological cues and saccade generation in the anti-saccade task. Perception, 41 (2), 131 - 147 .

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DOI: 10.1068/p7085

Abstract

Pointing with the eyes or the finger occurs frequently in social interaction to indicate direction of attention and one's intentions. Research with a voluntary saccade task(where saccade direction is instructed by the colour of a fixation point) suggested that gaze cues automatically activate the oculomotor system, but non-biological cues, like arrows, do not. However, other work has failed to support the claim that gaze cues are special. In the current research we introduced biological and non-biological cues into the anti-saccade task, using a range of stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). The anti-saccade task recruits both top ^ down and bottom^ up attentional mechanisms, as occurs in naturalistic saccadic behaviour. In experiment 1 gaze, but not arrows, facilitated saccadic reaction times (SRTs) in the opposite direction to the cues over all SOAs,whereas in experiment 2 directional word cues had no effect on saccades. In experiment 3 finger pointing cues caused reduced SRTs in the opposite direction to the cues at short SOAs. These findings suggest that biological cues automatically recruit the oculomotor system whereas non-biological cues do not. Furthermore, the anti-saccade task set appears tofacilitate saccadic responses in the opposite direction to the cues.

Item Type:Article
ISSN:0301-0066
Group:Faculty of Science & Technology
ID Code:21422
Deposited By: Symplectic RT2
Deposited On:17 Sep 2014 08:21
Last Modified:14 Mar 2022 13:49

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