Effects of cognitive tasks on eye movements

• Published in: Acta neurologica Belgica Vol. 122; no. 4; pp. 1005 - 1010
• Main Authors: Sarac, Elif Tugba, Batuk, Merve Ozbal, Yarali, Mehmet, Karadag, Mehmet, Aksoy, Songul, Akoglu, Ertap
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.08.2022
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Medicine/Public Health; Neurology; Neuroradiology; Neurosciences; Original Article; Cognitive task; Eye movement; VNG; Visual task
• ISSN: 0300-9009; 2240-2993; 2240-2993
• DOI: 10.1007/s13760-021-01733-y

Eye movements are guided by vestibular and visual information. The vestibulo-ocular knowledge of the vestibule includes eye movements in the opposite direction of head movements. This study investigated the effect of auditory "what" and "where" tasks on the visual "where" to evaluate the effects of cognitive tasks on eye movements. All subjects underwent testing with videonystagmography (VNG). The VNG battery of saccade and tracking oculomotor tests were performed. The study design was planned in three stages: (1) without any cognitive tasks, eye movements were recorded with VNG, (2) participants were asked to tell “what” sound they heard during VNG recording, and (3) the subject was asked to tell from what direction, or “where,” the sound had come from during VNG recording. Providing individuals with a cognitive task changed the test results negatively in all parameters. Giving cognitive tasks to individuals spoils all VNG parameters. The VNG oculomotor tests are affected by the dual tasks. Daily tasks such as sound object localization and recognition have a significant effect on scanning the visual environment in daily life such as during driving or walking in a crowded environment.