Endogenous saccades are preceded by shifts of visual attention, evidence from a novel priming task

grantor: University of TorontoThe relationship between visual attention and saccades was examined in three experiments using a novel priming paradigm. Participants were required to execute a saccade and subsequently identify the orientation of a triangle presented at the saccade location. Prior to the saccade a prime was presented that was either compatible (same orientation) or incompatible (different orientation) with the target triangle. A priming effect (slower RTs in the incompatible condition than in the compatible condition) was found only when the prime appeared at the saccade location. Furthermore, the priming effects were larger when a saccade was made than when no saccade was made. The results suggest that a shift of attention precedes saccades and that a shift of attention accompanied by oculomotor programming is faster than a shift of attention without oculomotor programming. These results further support the view that the visual attention system and the oculomotor system are intimately related.M.A