TY - JOUR A1 - Cajar, Anke A1 - Schneeweiss, Paul A1 - Engbert, Ralf A1 - Laubrock, Jochen T1 - Coupling of attention and saccades when viewing scenes with central and peripheral degradation JF - Journal of vision N2 - Degrading real-world scenes in the central or the peripheral visual field yields a characteristic pattern: Mean saccade amplitudes increase with central and decrease with peripheral degradation. Does this pattern reflect corresponding modulations of selective attention? If so, the observed saccade amplitude pattern should reflect more focused attention in the central region with peripheral degradation and an attentional bias toward the periphery with central degradation. To investigate this hypothesis, we measured the detectability of peripheral (Experiment 1) or central targets (Experiment 2) during scene viewing when low or high spatial frequencies were gaze-contingently filtered in the central or the peripheral visual field. Relative to an unfiltered control condition, peripheral filtering induced a decrease of the detection probability for peripheral but not for central targets (tunnel vision). Central filtering decreased the detectability of central but not of peripheral targets. Additional post hoc analyses are compatible with the interpretation that saccade amplitudes and direction are computed in partial independence. Our experimental results indicate that task-induced modulations of saccade amplitudes reflect attentional modulations. KW - scene viewing KW - saccades KW - attention KW - gaze-contingent displays KW - spatial frequencies KW - tunnel vision Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1167/16.2.8 SN - 1534-7362 VL - 16 PB - Association for Research in Vision and Opthalmology CY - Rockville ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cajar, Anke A1 - Schneeweiß, Paul A1 - Engbert, Ralf A1 - Laubrock, Jochen T1 - Coupling of attention and saccades when viewing scenes with central and peripheral degradation JF - Journal of Vision N2 - Degrading real-world scenes in the central or the peripheral visual field yields a characteristic pattern: Mean saccade amplitudes increase with central and decrease with peripheral degradation. Does this pattern reflect corresponding modulations of selective attention? If so, the observed saccade amplitude pattern should reflect more focused attention in the central region with peripheral degradation and an attentional bias toward the periphery with central degradation. To investigate this hypothesis, we measured the detectability of peripheral (Experiment 1) or central targets (Experiment 2) during scene viewing when low or high spatial frequencies were gaze-contingently filtered in the central or the peripheral visual field. Relative to an unfiltered control condition, peripheral filtering induced a decrease of the detection probability for peripheral but not for central targets (tunnel vision). Central filtering decreased the detectability of central but not of peripheral targets. Additional post hoc analyses are compatible with the interpretation that saccade amplitudes and direction are computed in partial independence. Our experimental results indicate that task-induced modulations of saccade amplitudes reflect attentional modulations. KW - scene viewing KW - saccades KW - attention KW - gaze-contingent displays KW - spatial frequencies KW - tunnel vision Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1167/16.2.8 SN - 1534-7362 VL - 16 IS - 2 SP - 1 EP - 19 PB - ARVO CY - Rockville, Md. ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chandra, Johan A1 - Krügel, André A1 - Engbert, Ralf T1 - Modulation of oculomotor control during reading of mirrored and inverted texts JF - Scientific Reports N2 - The interplay between cognitive and oculomotor processes during reading can be explored when the spatial layout of text deviates from the typical display. In this study, we investigate various eye-movement measures during reading of text with experimentally manipulated layout (word-wise and letter-wise mirrored-reversed text as well as inverted and scrambled text). While typical findings (e.g., longer mean fixation times, shorter mean saccades lengths) in reading manipulated texts compared to normal texts were reported in earlier work, little is known about changes of oculomotor targeting observed in within-word landing positions under the above text layouts. Here we carry out precise analyses of landing positions and find substantial changes in the so-called launch-site effect in addition to the expected overall slow-down of reading performance. Specifically, during reading of our manipulated text conditions with reversed letter order (against overall reading direction), we find a reduced launch-site effect, while in all other manipulated text conditions, we observe an increased launch-site effect. Our results clearly indicate that the oculomotor system is highly adaptive when confronted with unusual reading conditions. KW - human behaviour KW - psychology KW - eye-movement control KW - e-z reader KW - ideal-observer model KW - fixation locations KW - landing positions KW - saccade generation KW - cognitive-control KW - dynamical model KW - decision-theory KW - attention Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60833-6 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 10 PB - Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Chandra, Johan A1 - Krügel, André A1 - Engbert, Ralf T1 - Modulation of oculomotor control during reading of mirrored and inverted texts T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - The interplay between cognitive and oculomotor processes during reading can be explored when the spatial layout of text deviates from the typical display. In this study, we investigate various eye-movement measures during reading of text with experimentally manipulated layout (word-wise and letter-wise mirrored-reversed text as well as inverted and scrambled text). While typical findings (e.g., longer mean fixation times, shorter mean saccades lengths) in reading manipulated texts compared to normal texts were reported in earlier work, little is known about changes of oculomotor targeting observed in within-word landing positions under the above text layouts. Here we carry out precise analyses of landing positions and find substantial changes in the so-called launch-site effect in addition to the expected overall slow-down of reading performance. Specifically, during reading of our manipulated text conditions with reversed letter order (against overall reading direction), we find a reduced launch-site effect, while in all other manipulated text conditions, we observe an increased launch-site effect. Our results clearly indicate that the oculomotor system is highly adaptive when confronted with unusual reading conditions. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 659 KW - human behaviour KW - psychology KW - eye-movement control KW - e-z reader KW - ideal-observer model KW - fixation locations KW - landing positions KW - saccade generation KW - cognitive-control KW - dynamical model KW - decision-theory KW - attention Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-494879 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 659 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chandra, Johan A1 - Krügel, André A1 - Engbert, Ralf T1 - Experimental test of Bayesian saccade targeting under reversed reading direction JF - Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics N2 - During reading, rapid eye movements (saccades) shift the reader's line of sight from one word to another for high-acuity visual information processing. While experimental data and theoretical models show that readers aim at word centers, the eye-movement (oculomotor) accuracy is low compared to other tasks. As a consequence, distributions of saccadic landing positions indicate large (i) random errors and (ii) systematic over- and undershoot of word centers, which additionally depend on saccade lengths (McConkie et al.Visual Research, 28(10), 1107-1118,1988). Here we show that both error components can be simultaneously reduced by reading texts from right to left in German language (N= 32). We used our experimental data to test a Bayesian model of saccade planning. First, experimental data are consistent with the model. Second, the model makes specific predictions of the effects of the precision of prior and (sensory) likelihood. Our results suggest that it is a more precise sensory likelihood that can explain the reduction of both random and systematic error components. KW - eye movements and reading KW - Bayesian modeling KW - eye-movement control KW - model KW - fixation KW - attention KW - words KW - swift Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-019-01814-4 SN - 1943-393X SN - 1943-3921 VL - 82 SP - 1230 EP - 1240 PB - Springer CY - New York, NY ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Engbert, Ralf A1 - Trukenbrod, Hans Arne A1 - Barthelme, Simon A1 - Wichmann, Felix A. T1 - Spatial statistics and attentional dynamics in scene viewing JF - Journal of vision N2 - In humans and in foveated animals visual acuity is highly concentrated at the center of gaze, so that choosing where to look next is an important example of online, rapid decision-making. Computational neuroscientists have developed biologically-inspired models of visual attention, termed saliency maps, which successfully predict where people fixate on average. Using point process theory for spatial statistics, we show that scanpaths contain, however, important statistical structure, such as spatial clustering on top of distributions of gaze positions. Here, we develop a dynamical model of saccadic selection that accurately predicts the distribution of gaze positions as well as spatial clustering along individual scanpaths. Our model relies on activation dynamics via spatially-limited (foveated) access to saliency information, and, second, a leaky memory process controlling the re-inspection of target regions. This theoretical framework models a form of context-dependent decision-making, linking neural dynamics of attention to behavioral gaze data. KW - scene perception KW - eye movements KW - attention KW - saccades KW - modeling KW - spatial statistics Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1167/15.1.14 SN - 1534-7362 VL - 15 IS - 1 PB - Association for Research in Vision and Opthalmology CY - Rockville ER -