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Psychological Research (2012) 76:713729 DOI 10.1007/s00426-011-0397-5
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Gaze behaviour during space perception and spatial decision making
Jan M. Wiener Christoph Hlscher Simon Bchner Lars Konieczny
Received: 15 March 2011 / Accepted: 17 November 2011 / Published online: 3 December 2011 Springer-Verlag 2011
Abstract A series of four experiments investigating gaze behavior and decision making in the context of wayWnding is reported. Participants were presented with screenshots of choice points taken in large virtual environments. Each screenshot depicted alternative path options. In Experiment 1, participants had to decide between them to Wnd an object hidden in the environment. In Experiment 2, participants were Wrst informed about which path option to take as if following a guided route. Subsequently, they were presented with the same images in random order and had to indicate which path option they chose during initial exposure. In Experiment 1, we demonstrate (1) that participants have a tendency to choose the path option that featured the longer line of sight, and (2) a robust gaze bias towards the eventually chosen path option. In Experiment 2, systematic diVerences in gaze behavior towards the alternative path options between encoding and decoding were observed. Based on data from Experiments 1 and 2 and two control experiments ensuring that Wxation patterns were speciWc to the spatial tasks, we develop a tentative model of gaze behavior during wayWnding decision making suggesting
that particular attention was paid to image areas depicting changes in the local geometry of the environments such as corners, openings, and occlusions. Together, the results suggest that gaze during a wayWnding tasks is directed toward, and can be predicted by, a subset of environmental features and that gaze bias eVects are a general phenomenon of visual decision making.
Introduction
Where do we look when moving though the environment? In the context of navigation and wayWnding, eye-tracking studies have primarily investigated the role of gaze for the control of locomotory or steering behavior. WayWnding, however, also comprises higher level processes such as encoding information into and retrieving it from spatial memory, path planning, and decision making at choice points. So far, very few eye-tracking studies investigated these processes to answer questions like: how does gaze behavior relate to spatial decision making? Is it possible to predict...