Adaptive gaze control in natural environments.

Full Abstract

The sequential acquisition of visual information from scenes is a fundamental component of natural visually guided behavior. However, little is known about the control mechanisms responsible for the eye movement sequences that are executed in the service of such behavior. Theoretical attempts to explain gaze patterns have almost exclusively concerned two-dimensional displays that do not accurately reflect the demands of natural behavior in dynamic environments or the importance of the observer's behavioral goals. A difficult problem for all models of gaze control, intrinsic to selective perceptual systems, is how to detect important but unexpected stimuli without consuming excessive computational resources. We show, in a real walking environment, that human gaze patterns are remarkably sensitive to the probabilistic structure of the environment, suggesting that observers handle the uncertainty of the natural world by proactively allocating gaze on the basis of learned statistical structure. This is consistent with the role of reward in the oculomotor neural circuitry and supports a reinforcement learning approach to understanding gaze control in natural environments.

Author information

Author/s: Jovancevic-Misic, Jelena (J); Hayhoe, Mary (M);

Affiliation: Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627-0270, USA.

Grants: EY05729 (Agency:NEI NIH HHS) ; RR09283 (Agency:NCRR NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience (J Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-May; vol 29 (issue 19) : pp 6234-8

Dates: Created 2009/05/14; Completed 2009/05/28; Revised 2009/07/28;

PMID: 19439601, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 8/20/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.