Experiments Gallery
Anti-Saccade
Munoz & Everling, 2004
In the Anti-Saccade task (Munoz & Everling, 2004), the participant begins each trial by looking at a fixation cross. A cue appears that hints to the participant where the stimulus is going to appear. Then, a stimulus appears on the side of the screen. The stimulus is either a green or a red circle. When the green circle appears, the participant should make an eye movement towards the green circle (”Pro-Saccade”).
Pro-Saccade. Participant has to make an eye movement toward the green circle
But when the red cross appears, the participant must look to the other side of the screen, inhibiting the saccade reflex (”Anti-Saccade”).
Anti-Saccade. Participant has to make an eye movement to the opposite side of the screen from the red circle
Failures in such inhibition are related to neurological disorders at the level of the frontal cortex (Wilcockson et al., 2019).
References
Munoz, D. P., & Everling, S. (2004). Look away: The anti-saccade task and the voluntary control of eye movement. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5(3), 218–228. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1345
Wilcockson, T. D. W., Mardanbegi, D., Xia, B., Taylor, S., Sawyer, P., Gellersen, H. W., … Crawford, T. J. (2019). Abnormalities of saccadic eye movements in dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment. Aging, 11(15), 5389–5398.
Munoz, D. P., & Everling, S. (2004). Look away: The anti-saccade task and the voluntary control of eye movement. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5(3), 218–228. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1345
Wilcockson, T. D. W., Mardanbegi, D., Xia, B., Taylor, S., Sawyer, P., Gellersen, H. W., … Crawford, T. J. (2019). Abnormalities of saccadic eye movements in dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment. Aging, 11(15), 5389–5398.