Foveal and peripheral contributions to controlling fixation duration (360G-Wellcome-207287_Z_17_Z)

Human vision relies on rapid gaze shifts to obtain high quality foveal information about the environment. Information is acquired during periods of stable fixation. During a period of stable fixation, several decision processes occur: (i) foveal analysis: the observer has to analyse (identify) the currently fixated object(s); (ii) target selection: the observer has to decide where to look next; and (iii) fixation control: the observer has to decide when to go there. In the current project, we aim to assess the role of foveal analysis and target selection on the control of fixation duration. Investigating this interaction is vital to understanding the processes which govern an observer’s active visual sampling of the environment. The critical question we will address is to what extent fixation duration is controlled by foveal analysis and target selection, when the difficulty of these two decision processes is carefully controlled.