Changes in expectation impact multiple steps of the visual perceptual decision process in adults
Julien Audiffren, Jean‐Luc Bloechle, Jean‐Pierre Bresciani

TL;DR
This study shows that expectations influence different stages of visual decision-making, especially affecting motor responses and instruction processing.
Contribution
The study demonstrates that expectations affect multiple modules of perceptual decision-making, not just the decision stage.
Findings
Limited evidence for location expectation affecting saccadic reaction times.
Strong evidence for movement expectations influencing both saccadic and antisaccadic reaction times.
Expectations impact motor response and instruction processing more than sensory decision stages.
Abstract
Perceptual decision‐making processes, particularly in the context of eye movements and reaction times (RT), have been studied to better understand how the brain integrates and responds to sensory information. Recent models have decomposed the process into multiple intermediate steps, including detection, instruction processing, decision, and motor response. To investigate the impact of the observer's expectations on each of these steps, we conducted two experiments on 24 participants (including both female and male participants), manipulating respectively the stimuli's location expectation (left or right) and the eye movement expectation (saccade or antisaccade). The results revealed limited evidence for the influence of location expectation on saccadic RT and moderate evidence for antisaccadic RT. Conversely, there was strong evidence of the influence of movement expectations on both…
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Taxonomy
TopicsNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies · Multisensory perception and integration · Visual perception and processing mechanisms
