Featured Paper — Pierce, McDowell

Modulation of cognitive control levels via manipulation of saccade trial type probability assessed with event-related BOLD fMRI

This study manipulated the cognitive control demands of saccade tasks by presenting healthy undergraduates with three fMRI runs of a varying probability of antisaccade versus prosaccade trials (25, 50, or 75%). Behavioral results showed a reaction time effect of trial type probability, with slower responses in runs with a high antisaccade probability. Imaging results demonstrated that improbable performance of a typically simple prosaccade task led to augmented BOLD signal to support changing cognitive demands, resulting in activation levels similar to the more complex antisaccade task.