Abstract
Cognitive control can be defined as a set of cognitive functions, which enables humans to solve conflicts between goals and external stimuli and thus to act in accordance with their goals. These conflicts can for example arise between the location of a stimulus and its symbolic meaning. Such a conflict can be moderated, i.e. ameliorated or exacerbated, by spatial attention, the mechanisms responsible for the prioritization of certain locations for visual processing. It is suggested, that holding an eye fixation also involves spatial attention. However, it is still unclear, how maintaining an eye fixation affects the resolution of spatial cognitive conflicts. In two experiments, participants were asked to perform a spatial cognitive control task, the Spatial Stroop Task. Either they were in addition instructed to keep their gaze on a fixation stimulus in the center of the screen and to suppress eye movements to the target stimulus, or no instruction was given regarding the eye movements, allowing the eyes to move freely. In the second experiment, an additional urgency manipulation (i.e. time pressure) was applied. The data from the first experiment implied an interaction between the congruency condition and the fixation condition. The general performance was not affected by the fixation condition, but holding a fixation and thus the binding of attentional resources seemed to facilitate the resolution of the spatial cognitive conflict. In the second experiment, adverse effects of urgency on the resolution of spatial cognitive conflict were evident in both fixation conditions. However, the adverse effects were reduced when holding a fixation. In conclusion, in both experiments maintaining an eye fixation supported cognitive control for spatial conflicts by facilitating the resolution of spatial cognitive conflicts.