Year: 2022
Type: preprint
Abstract: One of the most popular measures of cognitive control is the antisaccade task where briefly presented and subsequently masked targets at a peripheral location are identified. Prior to mask presentation, there is a cue at an opposing location that must be inhibited. We assess the degree to which antisaccade accuracy measure reflects cognitive control vs. processing speed by comparing performance to that in a prosaccade accuracy condition. Target durations in both tasks are adjusted with an adaptive 2-down/1-up staircase to produce constant accuracies. Individual target durations in the antisaccade condition are highly correlated to those in the prosaccade condition (r=.83). With a series of hierarchical models, we show there is but a single source of systemic variation across the conditions---a factor of processing speed. We conclude that the antisaccade performance indexes processing speed rather than cognitive control.
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4286496151