Action effects in saccade control

According to the ideomotor principle, action preparation involves the activation of associations between actions and their effects. However, there is only sparse research on the role of action effects in saccade control. Here, participants responded to lateralized auditory stimuli with spatially compatible saccades toward peripheral targets (e.g., a rhombus in the left hemifield and a square in the right hemifield). Prior to the imperative auditory stimulus (e.g., a left tone), an irrelevant central visual stimulus was presented that was congruent (e.g., a rhombus), incongruent (e.g., a square), or unrelated (e.g., a circle) to the peripheral saccade target (i.e., the visual effect of the saccade). Saccade targets were present throughout a trial (Experiment 1) or appeared after saccade initiation (Experiment 2). Results showed shorter response times and fewer errors in congruent (vs. incongruent) conditions, suggesting that associations between oculomotor actions and their visual effects play an important role in saccade control.