Specific Deficits of Saccadic Eye Movements after Sleep Deprivation

Sleep deprivation (SD) and reduced vigilance impair not only the performance of cognitive tasks, but also of saccadic eye movements. Previous literature reports reduced peak velocities and prolonged latencies of visually-guided saccades, but the latter remained controversial. To clarify which specific saccadic subfunctions reflect reduced vigilance, we investigated the effect of a one-night SD on 3 different types of saccades that are controlled by different cortical networks: 1) visually-guided pro-saccades controlled more by the parietal (PEF) than by the frontal eye field (FEF; 2) anti-saccades (performed int…