Back to basics: The effects of block vs. interleaved trial administration on pro- and anti-saccade performance

The pro and anti-saccade task (PAT) is a widely used tool in the study of overt and covert attention with promising potential role in neurocognitive and psychiatric assessment. However, specific PAT protocols can vary significantly between labs, potentially resulting in large variations in findings across studies. In light of recent calls towards a standardization of PAT the current study's objective was to systematically and purposely evaluate the effects of block vs. interleaved administration—a fundamental consideration—on PAT measures in a within subject design. Additionally, this study evaluated whether measures of a Posner-type cueing paradigm parallels measures of the PAT paradigm. As hypothesized, results indicate that PAT performance is highly susceptible to administration mode. Interleaved mode resulted in larger error rates not only for anti (blocks: M = 22%; interleaved: M = 42%) but also for pro-saccades (blocks: M = 5%; interleaved: M = 12%). This difference between block and interleaved administration was significantly larger in anti-saccades compared to pro-saccades and cannot be attributed to a 'speed/accuracy tradeoff'. Interleaved mode produced larger pro and anti-saccade differences in error rates while block administration produced larger latency differences. Results question the reflexive nature of pro-saccades, suggesting they are not purely reflexive. These results were further discussed and compared to previous studies that included within subject data of blocks and interleaved trials.