Classical conditioning of saccadic latencies using gap and overlap paradigms

Presentation

Abstract

It is well established that a stimulus-onset-asynchrony between the fixation-target offset and the saccade-target onset considerably affects saccade latencies. A gap (fixation-target disappearing before the target-saccade onset) triggers short latency saccades. An overlap (fixation-target disappearing after the target-saccade onset) triggers long latency saccades. Here, we probe the possibility to control saccadic latencies using classical conditioning by systematically pairing a gap with one saccade direction and an overlap with the other.

In classical conditioning (Pavlov, 1927)