title: Different types of errors in saccadic task are sensitive to either time of day or chronic sleep restriction.
abstract: Circadian rhythms and restricted sleep length affect cognitive functions and, consequently, the performance of day to day activities. To date, no more than a few studies have explored the consequences of these factors on oculomotor behaviour. We have implemented a spatial cuing paradigm in an eye tracking experiment conducted four times of the day after one week of rested wakefulness and after one week of chronic partial sleep restriction. Our aim was to verify whether these conditions affect the number of a variety of saccadic task errors. Interestingly, we found that failures in response selection, i.e. premature responses and direction errors, were prone to time of day variations, whereas failures in response execution, i.e. omissions and commissions, were considerably affected by sleep deprivation. The former can be linked to the cue facilitation mechanism, while the latter to wake state instability and the diminished ability of top-down inhibition. Together, these results may be interpreted in terms of distinctive sensitivity of orienting and alerting systems to fatigue. Saccadic eye movements proved to be a novel and effective measure with which to study the susceptibility of attentional systems to time factors, thus, this approach is recommended for future research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; Neurobiology Department, Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wachowicz
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; Neurobiology Department, Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Beldzik
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; Neurobiology Department, Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Domagalik
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; Neurobiology Department, Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fafrowicz
authors.affiliation: Neurobiology Department, Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Magda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gawlowska
authors.affiliation: Neurobiology Department, Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Justyna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Janik
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; Institute of Culture, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Koryna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lewandowska
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Halszka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Oginska
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; Neurobiology Department, Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Tadeusz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Marek
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult