Peripheral vision and oculomotor control during visual search

Abstract

The present study concerns the dynamics of multiple fixation search. We tried to gain insight into: (1) how the peripheral and foveal stimulus affect fixation duration; and (2) how fixation duration affects the peripheral target selection for saccades. We replicated the non-corroborating results of Luria and Strauss (1975) (‘Eye movements during search for coded and uncoded targets’, Perception and Psychophysics 17, 303–308) (saccades were selective), and Zelinsky (1996) (Using eye movements to assess the selectivity of search movements. Vision research 36(14), 2177–2187) (saccades were not selective), by manipulating the critical features for peripheral selection and discrimination separately. We found search to be more selective and efficient when the selection task was easy or when fixations were long-lasting. Remarkably, subjects did not increase their fixation durations when the peripheral selection task was more difficult. Only the discrimination task affected the fixation duration. This implies that the time available for peripheral target selection is determined mainly by the discrimination task. The results of the present experiment suggest that, besides the difficulty of the peripheral selection task, fixation duration is an important factor determining the selection of potential targets for eye movements.