Changes in Antisaccade Performance with Extended Training is Differentially Associated with Changes in Neural Activity in the Oculomotor Network
-
1
Monash University, Monash Biomedical Imaging/School of Psychology & Psychiatry, Australia
-
2
Monash University, School of Psychology, Australia
BACKGROUND The neural oculomotor network (OMN) that underlies the control of saccadic eye movements encompasses prefrontal, parietal, subcortical and cerebellar regions. When presented with a peripheral target, the prepotent response is to perform a prosaccade (PS) towards the target. The antisaccade (AS) task requires participants to inhibit this response and make a saccade towards the mirror opposite location. AS trials show slower reaction time (RT), higher error rate and increased OMN activation compared to PS trials. Previous studies suggest that extended training can improve the control of saccades and reduce AS RT and error rate. Here, we use fMRI to examine the neural bases of improvement in the control of saccades on AS
METHOD Participants (n=23) completed 2 testing sessions and 14 training sessions. In testing sessions, participants underwent fMRI scanning while performing AS (50%) and PS (50%) trials. Testing session 1 was followed by 14 consecutive days of training; testing session 2 occurred 14 days after testing session 1
fMRI was acquired with T2*-weighted GRAPPA EPI (4runs, 116volumes, TR=2.5sec, TE=30ms, FOV=192mm, matrix=64x64, 44slices, 3x3x3mm voxels). EPIs were preprocessed in SPM8 (slice time corrected, realigned, coregistered, normalized, smoothed 6x6x6mm FWHM). First-level contrast images for AS>PS averaged over testing session were entered into a second-level model. Anatomical regions of interest (ROIs) of OMN were used to mask the AS>PS contrast and 10mm spherical ROIs were created around the maxima within each ROI. Effect sizes were extracted from each ROI for AS>PS for each session separately. Session 2-1 delta measures were computed for AS RT, error rate, gain and fMRI ROIs and subjected to bivariate correlation
RESULTS AS RT and gain reduced between sessions 1 and 2; error rate did not change. Variability in delta fMRI was positively correlated with delta AS RT in basal ganglia. Variability in delta fMRI was negatively related to delta gain in frontal eye fields, intraparietal sulcus, supramarginal gyrus, precuneus, lingual gyrus and vermis
DISCUSSION Change in AS performance with training is associated with change in fMRI activity in the OMN. Change in AS RT is associated with change in basal ganglia activity, consistent with its known role in motor responses. Change the ability to accurately determine the target of an AS (gain) was associated with change in prefrontal, parietal, and cerebellar regions
Keywords:
fMRI,
cognitive training,
Antisaccade performance,
Basal Ganglia,
oculomotor control
Conference:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, Clayton, Melbourne, Australia, 28 Nov - 1 Dec, 2013.
Presentation Type:
Oral
Topic:
Motor
Citation:
Jamadar
S,
Johnson
BP,
Egan
G and
Fielding
J
(2013). Changes in Antisaccade Performance with Extended Training is Differentially Associated with Changes in Neural Activity in the Oculomotor Network.
Conference Abstract:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.212.00188
Copyright:
The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers.
They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.
The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.
Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.
For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.
Received:
15 Oct 2013;
Published Online:
25 Nov 2013.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Sharna Jamadar, Monash University, Monash Biomedical Imaging/School of Psychology & Psychiatry, Clayton, VIC, 3977, Australia, sharna.jamadar@monash.edu