An adaptive model of gaze-based selection

Abstract

Gaze-based selection has received signifcant academic attention over a number of years. While advances have been made, it is possible that further progress could be made if there were a deeper understanding of the adaptive nature of the mechanisms that guide eye movement and vision. Control of eye movement typically results in a sequence of movements (saccades) and fxations followed by a dwell' at a target and a selection. To shed light on how these sequences are planned, this paper presents a computational model of the control of eye movements in gaze-based selection.We formulate the model as an optimal sequential planning problem bounded by the limits of the human visual and motor systems and use reinforcement learning to approximate optimal solutions. The model accurately replicates earlier results on the efects of target size and distance and captures a number of other aspects of performance. The model can be used to predict number of fxations and duration required to make a gaze-based selection. The future development of the model is discussed.