Developmental changes in oculomotor control and working-memory efficiency

Acta Psychol (Amst). 2007 Jan;124(1):139-58. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2006.09.012. Epub 2006 Nov 17.

Abstract

In the present study, we examined the developmental changes in the efficiency of saccadic inhibitory control. More specifically, the contribution of age-related changes in working-memory engagement was investigated. We manipulated the efficiency of inhibitory oculomotor control in antisaccade tasks by using fixation-offset conditions, which are supposed to affect inhibitory demands, and by adding increasing working-memory loads to the antisaccade task. In general, in comparison to antisaccade performance of adults, the antisaccade performance of 8-year-old and 12-year-old children was characterized by an increase in direction errors, and/or longer saccadic onset latencies on correct antisaccades. However, this pattern was not altered by the fixation-offset manipulations. In contrast, increased working-memory demands deteriorated 8-year-olds' antisaccade performance unequally as compared to older children and young adults. These findings suggest that - at least in young children - the available functional working-memory capacity is engaged in oculomotor inhibition.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aging / physiology*
  • Aging / psychology
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Child
  • Female
  • Field Dependence-Independence
  • Fixation, Ocular / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Inhibition, Psychological
  • Intention
  • Male
  • Memory, Short-Term / physiology*
  • Photic Stimulation / methods
  • Reaction Time / physiology
  • Reference Values
  • Saccades / physiology*
  • Task Performance and Analysis