Cortical sources of event-related potentials in the prosaccade and antisaccade task.

The cortical sources of event-related potentials (ERP) were examined in a prosaccade and antisaccade task in college-age participants. The task included a cue that indicated the spatial location of the target, a cue that indicated the type of eye movement, or no cue. A principal component analysis and equivalent current dipole analysis showed that a peripheral spatial cue resulted in extrastriate activity localized in Brodmann's area 19 whereas a central cue results in activity in areas 19 or 37. This extrastriate activity reflects an enhanced response to the target when attention was directed to that location. The presaccadic ERP activity primarily consisted of a contralateral positive potential and ipsilateral negative potential, localized in Brodmann's areas 8, 10, and 11. The temporal proximity of this cortical activity and its relation to movement cueing suggests it reflects eye movement planning processes.