“Automatic” online corrections during a reaching task are associated with individual differences in executive function.

Previous research has demonstrated that the dorsal visual stream is able to execute rapid online movement corrections to sudden changes in target position. This “automatic pilot” can operate in the absence of visual awareness, and even under circumstances where participants are instructed to not correct their movements. In the current study, we examined the extent to which these “automatic” corrections might be related to individual differences in executive control. To examine this, healthy adult participants (n=80) completed two versions of the automatic pilot task (APT) on a touch screen: 1) a “correct” condition in which participants were instructed to correct their movement to the new target location on jump trials, and 2) an “ignore” condition in which participants were told to ignore any target jumps, and point to the initial target location. In addition to completing these two versions of the APT, participants also completed the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART), in which they were asked to respond when a number was presented, except for the number 3. Finally, participants completed questionnaires indexing executive attention, impulsivity, and executive function including the Adult ADHD Self Report Scale (ASRS), the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ), and the Behavioural Rating Inventory of Executive Function for Adults (BRIEF-A). Our results indicated that, similar to previous research, participants made significantly more corrections to target jumps in the “correct” condition, compared to the “ignore” condition. Importantly, “automatic” unintended corrections in the “ignore” condition were significantly correlated with poorer scores on the ASRS, the CFQ, and the BRIEF-A. However, unintended corrections were not correlated with errors or reaction times on the SART. These results suggest that the APT is sensitive to individual differences in executive function, and may be useful as a visuomotor measure of response inhibition and cognitive control in both healthy and clinical populations.