Open AccessThe effect of subliminal incentives on goal-directed eye movements
Author(s) -
Vasko Kilian Hinze,
Ozge Uslu,
Jessica Emily Antono,
Melanie Wilke,
Arezoo Pooresmaeili
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of neurophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 245
eISSN - 1522-1598
pISSN - 0022-3077
DOI - 10.1152/jn.00414.2021
Subject(s) - subliminal stimuli , saccadic masking , psychology , cognitive psychology , eye movement , incentive , microsaccade , fixation (population genetics) , unconscious mind , social psychology , neuroscience , population , demography , economics , microeconomics , psychoanalysis , sociology
Reward incentives motivate humans to exert more effort, and they do so even when rewards are subconsciously perceived. It has been unknown whether these effects also extend to eye movements that have lower energetic demands compared with other movement types. We devised a behavioral task that required fast execution of multiple eye movements. Subliminal rewards enhanced the frequency and peak velocity of saccadic eye movements, with the most reliable effect observed for saccadic frequency.