Volume 8, Number 3, Article 26, Pages 1-7 doi:10.1167/8.3.26 http://journalofvision.org/8/3/26/ ISSN 1534-7362
An anti-Hick's effect in monkey and human saccade reaction times
Bonnie M. Lawrence
Department of Psychology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
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Alex St. John
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
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Richard A. Abrams
Department of Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA
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Lawrence H. Snyder
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
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Abstract

In order to execute movements to targets in the environment, we must first select a target in which to move, generally from an array of alternatives. Hick's Law states that reaction time (RT) increases as the number of response alternatives increases. Violations of this law, however, generally in the form of the absence of a relationship between response alternatives and RT have been reported in the literature. K. Kveraga, L. Boucher, and H. C. Hughes (2002), for example, found that saccades to visual targets violate Hick's Law. To examine this violation further, we measured saccade RTs in monkeys and humans and found that saccade RTs actually decreased as the number of potential target locations increased. We hypothesize that this arises because subjects must actively inhibit premature saccades, and that the required inhibition increases as the certainty of a movement to a particular location increases. With increased inhibition, saccade onset is delayed, resulting in an anti-Hick's effect.

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History
Received October 11, 2007; published March 27, 2008
Citation
Lawrence, B. M., St. John, A., Abrams, R. A., & Snyder, L. H. (2008). An anti-Hick's effect in monkey and human saccade reaction times. Journal of Vision, 8(3):26, 1-7, http://journalofvision.org/8/3/26/, doi:10.1167/8.3.26.
Keywords
Hick's Law, eye movement, reaction time
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