The interference effect of concurrent working memory task on visual inhibitory control

Brad M Hong,Susan Weiner,Michael Clancy,Minjoon Kouh

doi:10.16910/jemr.9.3.5

Abstract

We examined the interference between inhibitory control of a saccadic eye movement and a working memory task. This study was motivated by the observation that people are suscep-tible to cognitive errors when they are preoccupied. Subjects were instructed to make an anti-saccade, or to look in the opposite direction of a visual stimulus, thereby exercising inhibito-ry control over the reflexive eye movement towards a salient object. At the same time, the subjects were instructed to memorize a random sequence of digits that were read out to them, thereby engaging their working memory. We measured the success of an eye movement by rapidly switching between images and asking the subjects what they saw. We found that these concurrent cognitive tasks significantly degraded anti-saccade performance.We examined the interference between inhibitory control of a saccadic eye movement and a working memory task. This study was motivated by the observation that people are susceptible to cognitive errors when they are preoccupied. Subjects were instructed to make an anti-saccade, or to look in the opposite direction of a visual stimulus, thereby exercising inhibitory control over the reflexive eye movement towards a salient object. At the same time, the subjects were instructed to memorize a random sequence of digits that were read out to them, thereby engaging their working memory. We measured the success of an eye movement by rapidly switching between images and asking the subjects what they saw. We found that these concurrent cognitive tasks significantly degraded anti-saccade performance.

Highlights

With today’s media-rich lifestyle, people are often dividing their attention and cognitive capacity into multiple tasks
Some subjects’ average performances on antisaccade task were over 70%, whereas other subjects performed less than 10%
We presented a simple experiment that can measure the success of an eye movement without explicitly measuring the gaze location or requiring an eye tracker

Summary

Introduction

With today’s media-rich lifestyle, people are often dividing their attention and cognitive capacity into multiple tasks. Many students do their homework while chatting online, or people manipulate their smartphones while driving While performing those tasks, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is engaged in executing cognitive control, in storing task-relevant information in working memory, and in exercising inhibitory control as needed (Baddeley, 1992; Miller & Cohen, 2001; Roberts et al, 1994). The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is engaged in executing cognitive control, in storing task-relevant information in working memory, and in exercising inhibitory control as needed (Baddeley, 1992; Miller & Cohen, 2001; Roberts et al, 1994) How such different cognitive functions are coordinated and executed is an open question in neuroscience.

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Results

Conclusion