The hypothetical neural process of conflict resolution and the antisaccade tasks used in the study.

Two main neural modules, the action selection and the remapping modules, are involved in the antisaccade process. A. At the onset of the sensory stimulus, the sensory signal drives the action selection module through the automatic pathway 1 and the remapping module through the deliberate pathways 2 & 3. When performing an automatic action driven by the stimulus, the subject does not need to apply a strong top-down control and the remapping module is in the baseline state which does not change the default sensorimotor mapping. B. In contrast, if the subject performs a voluntary action against the automatic one, a strong top-down control is required. The top-down control suppresses the automatic response by temporally inhibiting the action selection module through the pathway 5 and promotes the sensorimotor remapping by facilitating the remapping module through the pathway 4. C The antisaccade task. In the task the color of the fixation signal on the center of the screen serves as the cue for the trial type. In prosaccade trials (top), the subject has to make a saccadic eye movement toward the white target as soon as it appears. In antisaccade trials (bottom), the subject has to make a saccade away from the target. In the present study we simulated three types of antisaccade tasks: Overlap, Gap and NoGap. D. In the Overlap paradigm, the fixation signal stays on throughout the entire trial. E. In the Gap paradigm, the fixation signal is turned off 200 ms before the onset of the target. F. In the NoGap paradigm, the fixation signal is turned off at the same time with the onset of the target.