Development of prosaccade and antisaccade task performance in participantsaged 6 to 26 years

There are few studies on the development of oculomotor functions during chi ldhood. B. Fischer, M. Biscaldi, and S. Gezeck (1997) reported improvement of antisaccade task performance between ages 6 and 16 years. The present st udy is a replication and extension of those results. In three age groups (6 -7, 10-11, 18-26 years), saccades during pro- and antisaccade tasks with 20 0-ms gap and overlap and during a fixation task were measured. Adults exhib ited faster saccades and less prosaccades during the antisaccade tasks than 10-11-year-old children; these two groups had faster saccades during all t asks and less prosaccades during the anti- and the fixation task than 6-7-y ear-old subjects. Both children groups made more express saccades than adul ts. Results suggest different degrees of age-related improvement for differ ent saccadic parameters, the effects being greatest for prosaccade inhibiti on during the antisaccade task and in line with the assumed protracted deve lopment of prefrontal functions.