Oculomotor inhibition precedes temporally expected auditory targets

Abstract

Eye movements are inhibited prior to the onset of temporally-predictable visual targets. This oculomotor inhibition effect could be considered a marker for the formation of temporal expectations and the allocation of temporal attention in the visual domain. Here we show that eye movements are also inhibited before predictable auditory targets. In two experiments, we manipulate the period between a cue and an auditory target to be either predictable or unpredictable. The findings show that although there is no perceptual gain from avoiding gaze-shifts in this procedure, saccades and blinks are inhibited prior to predictable relative to unpredictable auditory targets. These findings show that oculomotor inhibition occurs prior auditory targets. This link between auditory expectation and oculomotor behavior, in combination with the results of our parallel study in the tactile domain, reveals a multimodal perception action coupling, which has a central role in temporal expectations.