Eye movements do not preferentially test inferences in the blind spot

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Visual Perception

Background:

• Humans use eye movements to maximize information gain during visual search.
• Perceptually inferred information arises from visual gaps, but its role compared to veridical information is unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if eye movements are preferentially directed to the blind spot, an area of high uncertainty and information gain.
• To determine how perceptual inferences in the blind spot are treated during monocular visual search.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted using a monocular visual search task.
• Participants searched for "invisible" targets presented within the blind spot under interleaved and blocked viewing conditions.

Main Results:

• The initial saccade was not preferentially directed to the blind spot when targets appeared in either the left or right blind spot randomly.
• Participants learned to direct eye movements preferentially to the blind spot only when target locations within the blind spot were consistent (blocked viewing conditions).

Conclusions:

• Perceptual inferences in the blind spot are not inherently prioritized by eye movements during visual search.
• Eye movement optimization towards the blind spot can be achieved by leveraging contextual information and learning consistent patterns.