Cognition Of Motor Movements

Assignment 2
Manish Verma
2019174

Introduction

In the article, the association between saccadic eye movements and covertly directing
visual spatial attention was examined. In the experiment, participants had to saccade to
a predetermined position while also recognising a visual target that was displayed right
before the eye movement. There are a number of possible contenders, one of which is
the spatial attention system, a mechanism that functions in a spatial environment. When
attention is focused on a spot in the region, the brightness and shape information
around that point in space is processed more quickly and precisely. Since attention
shifts happen significantly more quickly than changes in eye position, spatial attention
can be employed to select the area for the subsequent fixation. The brain regions in
charge of oculomotor control, such as the superior colliculus, get instructions when
someone turns their attention or moves their eyes to a particular area. However, when it
comes to attention, circuitry that may involve parts of the frontal cortex inhibits the "go
command" that would otherwise cause eye movement to be carried out. Two predictions
are made by the oculomotor readiness hypothesis: (1) planning to make a saccade to a
site should result in attentional enhancement at that spot, and (2) attending to a location
should cause rapid saccades to the exact location. The idea that planning a saccade to
a location should improve the detection of signals at that same location was put to the
test directly by Klein. People were told to saccade in a certain direction if an asterisk
appeared to the left or right of fixation. Klein found that attention shifts are unnecessary
for saccade preparation since probes presented in the saccade target location did not
reduce reaction times. Using a dual-task methodology that eliminates the identified
issues, the present experiments assessed the relationship between attention and
saccades. The saccade direction was apparently signaled before the array detected
attention shifts. Thus, a visual signal need not be used to cue eye shift since it can
capture attention and influence array target detection..

Methods Used :
The detection task was a forced choice identification technique without time constraints
to avoid the dual-task under additivity that might arise with response time
measurements. A short visual display turned off at the start of the saccade is used to
test the impact of attention. According to Klein's data, his conclusions should be viewed
with caution. To begin with, no independent evidence exists that subjects were
preparing a saccade when the probe was presented at the designated location. A
100-msec difference in saccade latency was found between dual-task blocks and
single-task controls. Pashler has demonstrated that when signals are provided in close
temporal proximity, there are frequent delays in completing the second of two
accelerated reactions. A delay in the response selection step of the second task
effectively hides the effects of variables affecting earlier processing stages; thus, factors
like the attention that may typically expedite the perceptual processing of the first
stimulus may not be beneficial under dual-task settings. In the detection accuracy
paradigm-based study Remington found that saccades positively correlated with
attention. The subjects were told to saccade to a peripheral transient and look for a brief
target flash that was either on the same side as the transient or on the opposite side.
Remington's use of a % hit metric, sensitive to criteria changes, presents a further
challenge. Subjects were quicker at identifying flashes on the same side as the
saccade, even when objects were more likely to have happened on the opposite side of
the display; Shepherd, Findlay, and Hockey found this.
Experiment I investigated if forcing saccades to a location would help individuals better
recognize the information there.

Experiment 1: Two female and five male students participated and had normal or
corrected-to-normal vision. There were many apparatuses used. The trials were divided
into five blocks for each session. The eye-tracking system's calibration took place using
the first block.
The four target sites, as well as spots midway between the fixation point and the target
locations, were to be seen by the participants as they moved their gaze from fixation.
These measurements were taken twice to ensure the individuals followed the directions
on where to look. Throughout the experiment, the researcher kept an eye on where the
subject's pupil appeared on the screen and made frequent camera adjustments to
guarantee that the pupil was "centered" and in sharp focus. For a total of 24 trials, this
12-trial set was performed twice.
Result

The result of the paper and this experiment is as follows. When targets appeared in an
area where individuals would move their gaze, they were more easily found.
Intermediate performance was seen in the detection-only condition when there was no
bias toward a particular site. The dual-task scenario had the worst performance when
targets appeared at display places other than the saccade's final destination. The
findings of Experiment 1 point to a connection between attention and saccadic eye
movements. Before the saccade, individuals focus on where their eyes have moved to
in space. A little reduction in target detection accuracy was shown in dual-task
situations when the gap between the saccade and array presentation was lengthened,
but an improvement was seen in the detection-only condition. The pattern of the
interaction shows that, at least on some trials, the individuals may have postponed
performing the saccade until the arrival of the array.

Conclusion

The current work has demonstrated that, before a saccade is accomplished, attention
must be directed toward the target place in the periphery of the visual field. It appears
that orienting attention may be a necessary step in planning and carrying out saccades
since it is impossible to focus attention to one spot while carrying out a saccade to
another. When individuals are allowed to direct their attention as they like, Experiment 1
demonstrated a relationship between attention and saccades. Oculomotor readiness
theory's auxiliary claim that oculomotor systems play a role in programming attentional
movements has gotten varying degrees of support. However, it still seems like a
reasonable explanation to explain how eye movements and attention are related.

References

JAMES E. HOFFMAN and BASKARAN SUBRAMANIAM, University ofDelaware, Newark,

Delaware, Perception & Psychophysics, 1995,57 (6), 787-795
The role of visual attention in saccadic eye movements