Publication Date
2024
Document Type
Thesis
Committee Members
Scott N.J. Watamaniuk, Ph.D. (Advisor); Joseph W. Houpt, Ph.D. (Committee Member); Pamela S. Tsang, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Abstract
The current study investigates whether maintenance of smooth pursuit eye movements requires attention or if the traditional small-spot pursuit stimulus has propagated this long-held belief by imposing the attentional demands of the saccadic system (through foveation) onto the pursuit task. Using a within-subjects design, we compare single- and dual-task performance for two difficulty levels of an auditory tone discrimination task and a pursuit eye movement task with both small and large pursuit targets (N = 10). Pursuit performance improved when target size increased (for catch-up saccade rate and steady-state gain) and when auditory task difficulty increased (for catch-up saccade rate). Importantly, we did not observe decrements in pursuit performance under dual-task conditions, which would be expected if pursuit competed for attentional resources with the auditory task. Practical implications for clinical diagnosis and eye-tracking applications as well theoretical implications for understanding the pursuit system are discussed.
Page Count
103
Department or Program
Department of Psychology
Year Degree Awarded
2024
Copyright
Copyright 2024, all rights reserved. My ETD will be available under the "Fair Use" terms of copyright law.
ORCID ID
0000-0002-7354-4821
