Behavioral and Neural Plasticity of Ocular Motor Control: Changes in Performance and fMRI Activity Following Antisaccade Training

Sharna D. Jamadar, Beth P. Johnson, Meaghan Clough, Gary F. Egan, Joanne Fielding

The antisaccade task provides a model paradigm that sets the inhibition of a reflexively driven behavior against the volitional control of a goal-directed behavior. The stability and adaptability of antisaccade performance was investigated in 23 neurologically healthy individuals. Behavior and brain function were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) prior to and immediately following 2 weeks of daily antisaccade training. Participants performed antisaccade trials faster with no change in directional error rate following 2 weeks of training; however this increased speed came at the cost of the spatial accuracy of the saccade (gain) which became more hypometric following training. Training on the antisaccade task resulted in increases in fMRI activity in the fronto-basal ganglia-parietal-cerebellar ocular motor network. Following training, antisaccade latency was positively associated with fMRI activity in the frontal and supplementary eye fields, anterior cingulate and intraparietal sulcus; antisaccade gain was negatively associated with fMRI activity in supplementary eye fields, anterior cingulate, intraparietal sulcus, and cerebellar vermis. In sum, the results suggest that following training, larger antisaccade latency is associated with larger activity in fronto-parietal-cerebellar ocular motor regions, and smaller antisaccade gain is associated with larger activity in fronto-parietal ocular motor regions.