Pro- and antisaccades in children elicited by visual and acoustic targets - does modality matter?

Reflexive (prosaccade) and inhibitory (antisaccade) responses to visual and acoustic targets were examined with an eye tracker system in 31 children between seven and twelve years of age using a gap-overlap task and two target eccentricities.Acoustically cued saccades had longer reaction times than visually cued saccades. A gap effect (i.e., shorter reaction time in the gap than the overlap condition) was only found for visually elicited saccades, whereas an eccentricity effect (i.e., faster saccades to more laterally presented targets - 12° vs. 6° or rather 90° vs. 45°) was only present in the acoustic condition. Longer reaction times of antisaccades compared to prosaccades were found only in the visual task. Across both tasks the typical pattern of elevated error rates in the antisaccade condition was found. Antisaccade errors declined with age, indicating an ongoing development of inhibitory functions.The present results lay the ground for further studies of acoustically triggered saccades in typically as well as atypically developing children and it might thus be possible to upgrade physiological diagnostic tools.It is a reflex-like feature of human behaviour to look towards sudden changes in our visual field. This enables us to respond adequately to changes in our environment. Scientifically, this reflexive behaviour is studied with prosaccade tasks. Here, participants are required to generate a saccade to a suddenly appearing peripheral visual target - also called "visual grasp reflex". Parameters such as accuracy and saccadic reaction time (SRT) can be measured [1]. In order to not look towards a suddenly appearing peripheral target, volitional inhibition of the visual grasp reflex is required. Scientifically, this can be investigated with antisaccade tasks [2]. Here, participants are asked to suppress a prosaccade towards a visual target and to look at its mirror position in the opposite visual field instead. As antisaccades require active inhibition of an a