Abstract
Conscious behavioral intentions can frequently fail under conditions of attentional depletion. In attempting to trace the cognitive origin of this effect, we hypothesized that failures of action control-specifically, oculomotor movement-can result from the imposition of fronto-executive load. To evaluate this prediction, participants performed an antisaccade task while simultaneously completing a working-memory task that is known to make variable demands on prefrontal processes (n-back task, see Jonides et al., 1997). The results of two experiments are reported. As expected, antisaccade error rates were increased in accordance with the fronto-executive demands of the n-back task (Experiment 1). In addition, the debilitating effects of working-memory load were restricted to the inhibitory component of the antisaccade task (Experiment 2). These findings corroborate the view that working memory operations play a critical role in the suppression of prepotent behavioral responses.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 95-103 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience |
Volume | 14 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2002 |
Keywords
- POSITRON-EMISSION-TOMOGRAPHY
- FRONTAL-LOBE LESIONS
- EYE-MOVEMENTS
- BRAIN ACTIVATION
- ANTISACCADE TASK
- MENTAL CONTROL
- BEHAVIOR
- DAMAGE
- INHIBITION
- CORTEX