Visual attention and saccadic eye movements are linked in a tight, yet flexible fashion. In humans, this link is typically studied with dual‐task setups. Participants are instructed to execute a saccade to some target location, while a discrimination target is flashed on a screen before the saccade can be made. Participants are also instructed to report a specific feature of this discrimination target at the trial end. Discrimination performance is usually better if the discrimination target occurred at the same location as the saccade target compared to when it occurred at a different location, which is explained by the mandatory shift of attention to the saccade target location before saccade onset. This pre‐saccadic shift of attention presumably enhances the perception of the discrimination target if it occurred at the same, but not if it occurred at a different location. It is, however, known that a dual‐task setup can alter the primary process under investigation. Here, we directly compared pre‐saccadic attention in single‐task versus dual‐task setups using concurrent electroencephalography (EEG) and eye‐tracking. Our results corroborate the idea of a pre‐saccadic shift of attention. They, however, question that this shift leads to the same‐position discrimination advantage. The relation of saccade and discrimination target position affected the EEG signal only after saccade onset. Our results, thus, favor an alternative explanation based on the role of saccades for the consolidation of sensory and short‐term memory. We conclude that studies with dual‐task setups arrived at a valid conclusion despite not measuring exactly what they intended to measure.

中文翻译：

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心理物理双任务设置不测量眼跳前注意，而是测量与眼跳相关的感觉表征加强

视觉注意力和眼跳动作紧密而灵活地联系在一起。在人类中，此链接通常通过双任务设置进行研究。参与者被指示向某个目标位置执行扫视，同时在可以进行扫视之前，屏幕上会闪现一个辨别目标。还指示参与者在试验结束时报告该歧视目标的特定特征。如果识别目标发生在与扫视目标相同的位置，则识别性能通常比它发生在不同位置时更好，这可以通过在扫视开始之前将注意力强制转移到扫视目标位置来解释。如果同时发生，这种注意力的前扫视转移可能会增强对歧视目标的感知，但如果它发生在不同的位置，则不会。然而，众所周知，双任务设置可以改变正在调查的主要过程。在这里，我们使用并发脑电图 (EEG) 和眼动追踪直接比较了单任务和双任务设置中的扫视前注意。我们的结果证实了注意力转移前的想法。然而，他们质疑这种转变会导致同位歧视优势。扫视和辨别目标位置的关系仅在扫视开始后才影响脑电信号。因此，我们的结果支持另一种解释，该解释基于扫视对巩固感觉和短期记忆的作用。我们得出结论，尽管没有准确测量他们打算测量的内容，但双任务设置的研究得出了一个有效的结论。