The effects of type and workload of internal tasks on voluntary saccades in a target-distractor saccade task
When we engage in internally directed cognition, like doing mental arithmetic or mind wandering, fewer cognitive resources are assigned for other activities like reacting to perceptual input—an effect termed perceptual decoupling. However, the exact conditions under which perceptual decoupling occur...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10449167/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1827859902028054528 |
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| author | Sonja Walcher Živa Korda Christof Körner Mathias Benedek |
| author_facet | Sonja Walcher Živa Korda Christof Körner Mathias Benedek |
| author_sort | Sonja Walcher |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | When we engage in internally directed cognition, like doing mental arithmetic or mind wandering, fewer cognitive resources are assigned for other activities like reacting to perceptual input—an effect termed perceptual decoupling. However, the exact conditions under which perceptual decoupling occurs and its underlying cognitive mechanisms are still unclear. Hence, the present study systematically manipulated the task type (arithmetic, visuospatial) and workload (control, low, high) of the internal task in a within-subject design and tested its effects on voluntary saccades in a target-distractor saccade task. As expected, engagement in internal tasks delayed saccades to the target. This effect was moderated by time, task, and workload: The delay was largest right after internal task onset and then decreased, potentially reflecting the intensity of internal task demands. Saccades were also more delayed for the high compared to the low workload condition in the arithmetic task, whereas workload conditions had similarly high effects in the visuospatial task. Findings suggests that perceptual decoupling of eye behavior gradually increases with internal demands on general resources and that perceptual decoupling is specifically sensitive to internal demands on visuospatial resources. The latter may be mediated by interference due to eye behavior elicited by the internal task itself. Internal tasks did not affect the saccade latency-deviation trade-off, indicating that while the internal tasks delayed the execution of the saccade, the perception of the saccade stimuli and spatial planning of the saccade continued unaffected in parallel to the internal tasks. Together, these findings shed further light on the specific mechanisms underlying perceptual decoupling by suggesting that perceptual decoupling of eye behavior increases as internal demands on cognitive resources overlap more strongly with demands of the external task. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T13:16:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-38eee9dba58145d8b832c6131dea3100 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T13:16:19Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-38eee9dba58145d8b832c6131dea31002023-08-27T05:32:04ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01188The effects of type and workload of internal tasks on voluntary saccades in a target-distractor saccade taskSonja WalcherŽiva KordaChristof KörnerMathias BenedekWhen we engage in internally directed cognition, like doing mental arithmetic or mind wandering, fewer cognitive resources are assigned for other activities like reacting to perceptual input—an effect termed perceptual decoupling. However, the exact conditions under which perceptual decoupling occurs and its underlying cognitive mechanisms are still unclear. Hence, the present study systematically manipulated the task type (arithmetic, visuospatial) and workload (control, low, high) of the internal task in a within-subject design and tested its effects on voluntary saccades in a target-distractor saccade task. As expected, engagement in internal tasks delayed saccades to the target. This effect was moderated by time, task, and workload: The delay was largest right after internal task onset and then decreased, potentially reflecting the intensity of internal task demands. Saccades were also more delayed for the high compared to the low workload condition in the arithmetic task, whereas workload conditions had similarly high effects in the visuospatial task. Findings suggests that perceptual decoupling of eye behavior gradually increases with internal demands on general resources and that perceptual decoupling is specifically sensitive to internal demands on visuospatial resources. The latter may be mediated by interference due to eye behavior elicited by the internal task itself. Internal tasks did not affect the saccade latency-deviation trade-off, indicating that while the internal tasks delayed the execution of the saccade, the perception of the saccade stimuli and spatial planning of the saccade continued unaffected in parallel to the internal tasks. Together, these findings shed further light on the specific mechanisms underlying perceptual decoupling by suggesting that perceptual decoupling of eye behavior increases as internal demands on cognitive resources overlap more strongly with demands of the external task.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10449167/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Sonja Walcher Živa Korda Christof Körner Mathias Benedek The effects of type and workload of internal tasks on voluntary saccades in a target-distractor saccade task PLoS ONE |
| title | The effects of type and workload of internal tasks on voluntary saccades in a target-distractor saccade task |
| title_full | The effects of type and workload of internal tasks on voluntary saccades in a target-distractor saccade task |
| title_fullStr | The effects of type and workload of internal tasks on voluntary saccades in a target-distractor saccade task |
| title_full_unstemmed | The effects of type and workload of internal tasks on voluntary saccades in a target-distractor saccade task |
| title_short | The effects of type and workload of internal tasks on voluntary saccades in a target-distractor saccade task |
| title_sort | effects of type and workload of internal tasks on voluntary saccades in a target distractor saccade task |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10449167/?tool=EBI |
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