Abstract
In previous research, microsaccades have been suggested as psychophysiological indicators of task load. So far, it is still under debate how different types of task demands are influencing microsaccade rate. This piece of research examines the relation between visual load, mental load and microsaccade rate. Fourteen participants carried out a continuous performance task (n-back), in which visual (letters vs. abstract figures) and mental task load (1-back to 4-back) were manipulated as within-subjects variables. Eye tracking data, performance data as well as subjective workload were recorded. Data analysis revealed an increased level of microsaccade rate for stimuli of high visual demand (i.e. abstract figures), while mental demand (n-back-level) did not modulate microsaccade rate. In conclusion, the present results suggest that microsaccade rate reflects visual load of a task rather than its mental load.
Highlights
Received February 08, 2020; Published April 28, 2021
Results showed that microsaccade rate is linked with visual load but not with mental load per se
Microsaccade rate increased from the control condition to the onset of the n-back figure task
Summary
Received February 08, 2020; Published April 28, 2021. Citation: Schneider, A., Sonderegger A., Krueger, E., Meteier, Q., Luethold, P., & Chavaillaz, A. (2021). Research on microsaccades has been very popular in the past decade (Engbert, 2006a; Martinez-Conde, Macknik, Troncoso, & Hubel, 2009), with a considerable deal of effort being put into investigating causes for the modulation of microsaccade rate (Betta & Turatto, 2006; Otero-Millan et al, 2008) In this context, the influence of task load on microsaccade rate attracted considerable interest in research Some studies indicate an increase while others report a decrease in microsaccade rate as consequence of an increase in task difficulty In this context, visual load, i.e. the amount of information involved in the perceptual processing of the task stimuli (see Lavie, 2010 for review), and/or mental load, i.e. demands of working memory (Lavie, Hirst, de Fockert, & Viding, 2004) have been suggested to play a major role (Xue et al, 2017). Results of some initial studies comparing different types of cognitive load (e.g. Krueger et al, 2019; Xue et al, 2017) indicate that the visual component of the load is highly important for microsaccade occurrence, there is still some lack of clarity regarding the influence of non-visual task load
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