TY - JOUR A1 - Bettenbühl, Mario A1 - Rusconi, Marco A1 - Engbert, Ralf A1 - Holschneider, Matthias T1 - Bayesian selection of Markov Models for symbol sequences application to microsaccadic eye movements JF - PLoS one N2 - Complex biological dynamics often generate sequences of discrete events which can be described as a Markov process. The order of the underlying Markovian stochastic process is fundamental for characterizing statistical dependencies within sequences. As an example for this class of biological systems, we investigate the Markov order of sequences of microsaccadic eye movements from human observers. We calculate the integrated likelihood of a given sequence for various orders of the Markov process and use this in a Bayesian framework for statistical inference on the Markov order. Our analysis shows that data from most participants are best explained by a first-order Markov process. This is compatible with recent findings of a statistical coupling of subsequent microsaccade orientations. Our method might prove to be useful for a broad class of biological systems. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0043388 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 7 IS - 9 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Engbert, Ralf T1 - Computational modeling of collicular integration of perceptual responses and attention in microsaccades JF - The journal of neuroscience N2 - During visual fixation on a target object, our eyes are not motionless but generate slow fixational eye movements and microsaccades. Effects of visual attention have been observed in both microsaccade rates and spatial directions. Experimental results, however, range from early (<200 ms) to late (>600 ms) effects combined with cue-congruent as well as cue-incongruent microsaccade directions. On the basis of well characterized neural circuitry in superior colliculus, we construct a dynamical model of neural activation that is modulated by perceptual input and visual attention. Our results show that additive integration of low-level perceptual responses and visual attention can explain microsaccade rate and direction effects across a range of visual cueing tasks. These findings suggest that the patterns of microsaccade direction observed in experiments are compatible with a single dynamical mechanism. The basic principles of the model are highly relevant to the general problem of integration of low-level perception and top-down selective attention. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0808-12.2012 SN - 0270-6474 VL - 32 IS - 23 SP - 8035 EP - 8039 PB - Society for Neuroscience CY - Washington ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Engbert, Ralf T1 - A computational model of microsaccadic responses to shifts of covert attention T2 - Perception Y1 - 2012 SN - 0301-0066 SN - 1468-4233 VL - 41 SP - 55 EP - 55 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Krügel, Andre A1 - Engbert, Ralf T1 - Saccade targeting of spatially extended objects a Bayesian model T2 - Perception Y1 - 2012 SN - 0301-0066 SN - 1468-4233 VL - 41 SP - 167 EP - 167 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krügel, Andre A1 - Vitu, Francoise A1 - Engbert, Ralf T1 - Fixation positions after skipping saccades - a single space makes a large difference JF - Attention, perception, & psychophysics : AP&P ; a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc. N2 - During reading, saccadic eye movements are generated to shift words into the center of the visual field for lexical processing. Recently, Krugel and Engbert (Vision Research 50:1532-1539, 2010) demonstrated that within-word fixation positions are largely shifted to the left after skipped words. However, explanations of the origin of this effect cannot be drawn from normal reading data alone. Here we show that the large effect of skipped words on the distribution of within-word fixation positions is primarily based on rather subtle differences in the low-level visual information acquired before saccades. Using arrangements of "x" letter strings, we reproduced the effect of skipped character strings in a highly controlled single-saccade task. Our results demonstrate that the effect of skipped words in reading is the signature of a general visuomotor phenomenon. Moreover, our findings extend beyond the scope of the widely accepted range-error model, which posits that within-word fixation positions in reading depend solely on the distances of target words. We expect that our results will provide critical boundary conditions for the development of visuomotor models of saccade planning during reading. KW - Eye movements KW - Reading KW - Motor control KW - Skipping Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-012-0365-1 SN - 1943-3921 VL - 74 IS - 8 SP - 1556 EP - 1561 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lange, Elke B. A1 - Starzynski, Christian A1 - Engbert, Ralf T1 - Capture of the gaze does not capture the mind JF - Attention, perception, & psychophysics : AP&P ; a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc. N2 - Sudden visual changes attract our gaze, and related eye movement control requires attentional resources. Attention is a limited resource that is also involved in working memory-for instance, memory encoding. As a consequence, theory suggests that gaze capture could impair the buildup of memory respresentations due to an attentional resource bottleneck. Here we developed an experimental design combining a serial memory task (verbal or spatial) and concurrent gaze capture by a distractor (of high or low similarity to the relevant item). The results cannot be explained by a general resource bottleneck. Specifically, we observed that capture by the low-similar distractor resulted in delayed and reduced saccade rates to relevant items in both memory tasks. However, while spatial memory performance decreased, verbal memory remained unaffected. In contrast, the high-similar distractor led to capture and memory loss for both tasks. Our results lend support to the view that gaze capture leads to activation of irrelevant representations in working memory that compete for selection at recall. Activation of irrelevant spatial representations distracts spatial recall, whereas activation of irrelevant verbal features impairs verbal memory performance. KW - Attention KW - Memory KW - Cognitive eye movements KW - Visual working memory KW - Short-term memory Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-012-0318-8 SN - 1943-3921 VL - 74 IS - 6 SP - 1168 EP - 1182 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Laubrock, Jochen A1 - Cajar, Anke A1 - Engbert, Ralf T1 - Peripheral spatial frequency processing affects timing and metrics of saccades T2 - Perception Y1 - 2012 SN - 0301-0066 SN - 1468-4233 VL - 41 SP - 170 EP - 170 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Makarava, Natallia A1 - Bettenbühl, Mario A1 - Engbert, Ralf A1 - Holschneider, Matthias T1 - Bayesian estimation of the scaling parameter of fixational eye movements JF - epl : a letters journal exploring the frontiers of physics N2 - In this study we re-evaluate the estimation of the self-similarity exponent of fixational eye movements using Bayesian theory. Our analysis is based on a subsampling decomposition, which permits an analysis of the signal up to some scale factor. We demonstrate that our approach can be applied to simulated data from mathematical models of fixational eye movements to distinguish the models' properties reliably. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/100/40003 SN - 0295-5075 VL - 100 IS - 4 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Mulhouse ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schad, Daniel A1 - Engbert, Ralf T1 - The zoom lens of attention simulating shuffled versus normal text reading using the SWIFT model JF - Visual cognition N2 - Assumptions on the allocation of attention during reading are crucial for theoretical models of eye guidance. The zoom lens model of attention postulates that attentional deployment can vary from a sharp focus to a broad window. The model is closely related to the foveal load hypothesis, i.e., the assumption that the perceptual span is modulated by the difficulty of the fixated word. However, these important theoretical concepts for cognitive research have not been tested quantitatively in eye movement models. Here we show that the zoom lens model, implemented in the SWIFT model of saccade generation, captures many important patterns of eye movements. We compared the model's performance to experimental data from normal and shuffled text reading. Our results demonstrate that the zoom lens of attention might be an important concept for eye movement control in reading. KW - Computational modelling KW - Eye movements KW - Foveal load hypothesis KW - Perceptual span KW - Reading KW - Zoom lens model of attention Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2012.670143 SN - 1350-6285 SN - 1464-0716 VL - 20 IS - 4-5 SP - 391 EP - 421 PB - Wiley CY - Hove ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schad, Daniel A1 - Nuthmann, Antje A1 - Engbert, Ralf T1 - Your mind wanders weakly, your mind wanders deeply - objective measures reveal mindless reading at different levels JF - Cognition : international journal of cognitive science N2 - When the mind wanders, attention turns away from the external environment and cognitive processing is decoupled from perceptual information. Mind wandering is usually treated as a dichotomy (dichotomy-hypothesis), and is often measured using self-reports. Here, we propose the levels of inattention hypothesis, which postulates attentional decoupling to graded degrees at different hierarchical levels of cognitive processing. To measure graded levels of attentional decoupling during reading we introduce the sustained attention to stimulus task (SAST), which is based on psychophysics of error detection. Under experimental conditions likely to induce mind wandering, we found that subjects were less likely to notice errors that required high-level processing for their detection as opposed to errors that only required low-level processing. Eye tracking revealed that before errors were overlooked influences of high- and low-level linguistic variables on eye fixations were reduced in a graded fashion, indicating episodes of mindless reading at weak and deep levels. Individual fixation durations predicted overlooking of lexical errors 5 s before they occurred. Our findings support the levels of inattention hypothesis and suggest that different levels of mindless reading can be measured behaviorally in the SAST. Using eye tracking to detect mind wandering online represents a promising approach for the development of new techniques to study mind wandering and to ameliorate its negative consequences. KW - Mind wandering KW - Reading KW - Eye movements KW - Signal detection theory KW - Levels of processing KW - Sustained attention Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2012.07.004 SN - 0010-0277 VL - 125 IS - 2 SP - 179 EP - 194 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER -