Don't look! Don't touch! Inhibitory control of eye and hand movements

Inhibitory control of eye and hand movements was compared in the stop-signa l task. Subjects moved their eyes to the right or left or pressed keys on t he right or left in response to visual stimuli. The stimuli were either cen tral (angle brackets pointing left or right) or peripheral (plus signs turn ing into Xs left or right of fixation), and the task was either pro (respon d on the same side as the stimulus) or anti (respond on the opposite side). Occasionally, a stop signal was presented, which instructed subjects to in hibit their responses to the go stimulus. Stop-signal reaction times (SSRTs ) were faster overall for eye movements than for hand movements, and they w ere affected differently by stimulus conditions (central vs, peripheral) an d task (pro vs. anti), suggesting that the eyes and hands are inhibited by different processes operating under similar principles (i.e., a race betwee n stop and go processes).