The eyes prefer targets nearby fixation: Quantifying eccentricity-dependent attentional biases in oculomotor selection

Elle van Heusden*, Christian N.L. Olivers, Mieke Donk

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

An important function of peripheral vision is to provide the target of the next eye movement. Here we investigate the extent to which the eyes are biased to select a target closer to fixation over one further away. Participants were presented with displays containing two identical singleton targets and were asked to move their eyes to either one of them. The targets could be presented at three different eccentricities relative to central fixation. In one condition both singletons were presented at the same eccentricity, providing an estimate of the speed of selection at each of the eccentricities. The saccadic latency distributions from this same-eccentricity condition were then used to predict the selection bias when both targets were presented at different eccentricities. The results show that when targets are presented at different eccentricities, participants are biased to select the item closest to fixation. This eccentricity-based bias was considerably stronger than predicted on the basis of saccadic latency distributions in the same-eccentricity condition. This rules out speed of processing per se as a sole explanation for such a bias. Instead, the results are consistent with attentional competition being weighted in favour of items close to fixation.

Original languageEnglish
Article number108177
Pages (from-to)1-11
Number of pages11
JournalVision Research
Volume205
Early online date18 Jan 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This project was funded by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO; grant 453-16-002, to C.N.L.O.). We would like to thank Teresa Streutgers for her help with the data collection.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors

Funding

This project was funded by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO; grant 453-16-002, to C.N.L.O.). We would like to thank Teresa Streutgers for her help with the data collection.

FundersFunder number
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek453-16-002

    Keywords

    • Attention
    • Eccentricity
    • Eye movements
    • Oculomotor selection

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