The effects of attentional load on saccadic task switching

Abstract

Everyday life requires the ability to flexibly switch between tasks. Often, task switching is accompanied by concurrent cognitive activities that compete for limited attentional resources. This study aimed to characterize the effects of attentional load on task switching. In experiment 1, participants performed an interleaved pro-saccade and anti-saccade task. In experiment 2, participants performed an interleaved pro-saccade and anti-saccade task simultaneously with a rapid serial visual presentation task that has been shown to create an attentional load. Error rates and reaction times of pro-saccades and anti-saccades were analysed for both experiments separately and together. Overall, error rates and reaction times increased with attentional load. With attentional load, switches to pro-saccades were associated with increased error rates and reaction times, whereas switches to anti-saccades were only associated with increased error rates. We propose that attentional load interferes with neural task-set representation and that the resulting executive control is different for the dominant and non-dominant task.