Quiet eyes: Visual gaze stability predicts intra- and interindividual differences in attention control

In the present study, we examined oculomotor dynamics during the completion of three measures of attention control among a large sample of young adults (N = 388). First, we address the ongoing question regarding the coherence of attention control as a cognitive construct. Here we find that attention control can be measured reliably and is correlated with yet distinct from working memory capacity. Then, we examined fixation stability prior to cue and stimulus onsets in the antisaccade, psychomotor vigilance, and sustained-attention-to-cue tasks. We hypothesized that gaze stability – or Quiet Eye (QE) – would be associated with superior attention control both within and between individuals. In the antisaccade and psychomotor vigilance tasks, accurate and fast responses were preceded by a more stable gaze position. In all three tasks, attention performance was correlated with gaze stability across individuals. Finally, individual differences in QE were distinct from individual differences in working memory capacity and self-reported motivation, each of which also accounted for variance in attention control. The findings affirm the presence of attention control as a cognitive construct and provide new insight into the mechanisms that underlie intra- and interindividual variability in attention.