Cognitive mechanisms and motor control during a saccadic eye movement task: evidence from quantitative electroencephalography

Abstract

The saccadic movement is an important behavioral measure used to investigate several cognitive processes, including attention and sensorimotor integration. The present study aimed at investigating changes in beta coherence over frontal, motor, occipital, and parietal cortices during the performance of two different conditions of a prosacadic paradigm. The conditions involved a different pattern of stimulus presentation: a fixed and random stimulus presentation. Twelve healthy volunteers (three male, mean age of 26.25 (SD=4.13) performed the task, while their brain activity pattern was recorded using quantitative electroencephalography. The results showed an interaction between factors condition and moment for the pair of electrode C3/C4. We observed a main effect for moment to CZ/C4, FZ/F3, and P3/PZ. We also found a main effect for condition to FZ/F4, P3/P4, and O1/O2. Our results demonstrated an important role of the inter-connection of the two hemispheres in visual search and movement preparation. The study demonstrates an automation of action and reduction of the focus of attention during the task. We also found that the inter-hemispheric beta coherence plays an important role in the differentiation of the two conditions, and that beta in the right frontal cortex is able to differentiate the conditions, demonstrating a greater involvement of procedural memory in fixed condition. Our results suggest a neuronal specialization in the execution of prosacadic paradigm involving motor task sequence.