title: Effects of ethanol on anti-saccade task performance.
abstract: It has been shown that saccade-related neurons in the superior colliculus (SC) display an increased level of prestimulus activity and a higher stimulus-related burst in action potentials preceding direction errors in the anti-saccade task compared with correct anti-saccades. From this, it has been hypothesized that errors occur when the incoming visual signal in the SC passes a threshold and triggers a reflexive saccade. This hypothesis predicts that an attenuated visual signal will reduce the number of direction errors. Since ethanol has been shown to have a suppressive effect on cortical visual event-related potentials (ERPs), the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of moderate ethanol consumption on anti-saccade performance. Under both placebo and ethanol conditions, we recorded ERPs and measured eye movements in male subjects during the performance of an anti-saccade task in which the fixation point disappeared 200 ms prior to stimulus presentation. Compared with the placebo condition, we found in the ethanol condition: (1). a decrease in ERP amplitudes during the gap period and after stimulus presentation, (2). an increase in the latencies of anti-saccades, and (3). a decrease in the percentage of direction errors. These data demonstrate the effects of ethanol on anti-saccade task performance and provide further support for the hypothesis that errors in the anti-saccade task are triggered by the incoming visual signal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The University of Western Ontario, Social Science Centre, London, Ontario, N6A 5C2, Canada.
authors.forename: Sarah A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Kristen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Timney
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Everling
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D015835:Ocular Motility Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000503:physiopathology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*; D013477:Superior Colliculi / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol