An Investigation of Attentional and Inhibitory Processes During Active Visual Search in Humans

NCT ID: NCT06587113

Last Updated: 2026-01-12

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 117 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-09-15
• Study Completion Date: 2025-10-01

Brief Summary

The goal of this study is to investigate the finding that there are large individual differences in how participants move their eyes during active visual search. For example, some individuals tend to fixate, that is point their eyes steadily at a single location, for longer than other individuals before moving to another location. This experiment will use behavioral tasks to measure an individual's attentional and inhibitory functioning, and then see how each of these contributes to between-participant variability in eye movement behavior during visual search.

Detailed Description

To accomplish the goal of understanding the source of individual variability in eye movement patterns, each participant will complete three separate tasks. The first task will require participants to find a target and eye movements will be measured to assess individual differences in fixation duration and other types of eye movement behavior. A second task will evaluate attentional functioning over the visual field by requiring participants to detect briefly-presented targets using their peripheral vision. Finally, a third task will assess inhibitory functioning by having participants attempt to stop eye movements after they have been programmed.

Conditions

Eye Movements; Attention; Executive Function

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Study Group

This study examines eye movement behavior using eye-tracking technology. Healthy participants perform three different tasks, including a visual search task, a stop-signal task, and a useful field of view task. Behavioral performance and eye movements are recorded for all tasks.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Visual tasks

Intervention Type: OTHER

In the experiments, participants sit in front of a computer screen with their head in a chinrest to control for distance from the monitor and eye-tracking equipment. For the visual search task, participants will search for a visual target among distractors and make a response regarding its orientation. For the stop-signal task, participants will make an eye movement to a target that appears on the screen, except on trials where a visual signal appears indicating they should cancel this behavior. In the useful field of view task, participants will report the location of a briefly-presented and masked target, while also responding to the identify of a central target in some blocks.

Interventions

Visual tasks

In the experiments, participants sit in front of a computer screen with their head in a chinrest to control for distance from the monitor and eye-tracking equipment. For the visual search task, participants will search for a visual target among distractors and make a response regarding its orientation. For the stop-signal task, participants will make an eye movement to a target that appears on the screen, except on trials where a visual signal appears indicating they should cancel this behavior. In the useful field of view task, participants will report the location of a briefly-presented and masked target, while also responding to the identify of a central target in some blocks.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• 18-65 years old

Exclusion Criteria

• Self-reported history of neurological illness
• Uncorrected vision problems

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

National Eye Institute (NEI)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Colorado, Denver

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Carly J Leonard, Phd

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Colorado enver

Locations

University of Colorado Denver

Denver, Colorado, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

R15EY035056-01

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

22-1148

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id