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Fixation offset facilitates saccades and manual reaching for single but not multiple target displays

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Abstract

Turning off a fixation point, typically for 200 ms, before the onset of a peripheral target substantially reduces saccadic reaction times. This facilitatory effect generated by an inserted temporal gap between fixation offset and the target appearance is called the “gap” effect [J Opt Soc Am 57:1030–1033, 1967]. We show that the gap reduces the initial latency of both saccades and manual pointing in single and multiple target displays. Yet, in multiple target displays, the gap increased the movement duration because eye or hand movements were frequently misdirected toward distractors so that the trajectory had to be corrected. Thus, in spite of the shortened latency, the total time for trial completion was not shortened in multiple target displays, whereas it was reduced in single target displays. This selective gap effect for a single target was not restricted to goal-directed motor tasks because perceptual discrimination tasks, where no motor response is required, also demonstrated the gap effect only for single target displays. Our results suggest that the gap may facilitate attentional disengagement, but it does not help target selection in motor and perceptual discrimination tasks, where the allocation of attention to the target is required.

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Acknowledgments

JHS is supported by Korea Foundation For Advanced Studies fellowship. We thank Charles Stromeyer III, Yuhong Jiang, Amelia Hunt, and Dr. Richard Abrams for helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, WJH 710, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Joo-Hyun Song

  2. Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, WJH 770, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Ken Nakayama

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  1. Joo-Hyun Song
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  2. Ken Nakayama
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Correspondence to Joo-Hyun Song.

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Song, JH., Nakayama, K. Fixation offset facilitates saccades and manual reaching for single but not multiple target displays. Exp Brain Res 177, 223–232 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-006-0667-4

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