Facilitation of reaction times with GAP paradigm: comparison of manual and saccadic responses

Abstract

Manual and saccadic reaction times (RTs) were measured to peripheral target onsets. Previous researchers reported marked decrement in saccadic latencies when the central fixation mark offset preceded the target onset by a short interval (a gap paradigm). The first experiment ascertained whether a similar RT facilitation would occur with a manual RT task. It was found that, in line with previous studies, a majority of saccades was less than 150 ms when a gap of 200 ms was inserted between the fixation offset and the target onset. These short latency saccades were executed virtually without error. Manual RTs were also facilitated, but the amount of facilitation was modest, and it was bargained for at the expense of increased errors. To compare these two response modes under the gap paradigm, two additional experiments were conducted. First, to check the possibility that the facilitation of manual RTs was due to the prolonged experience with the gap paradigm, 36 naive subjects were recruited, and their manua...