PubMed Health⌕ Search

PubMed · 15808501

Eye movements in natural behavior.

Abstract

The classic experiments of Yarbus over 50 years ago revealed that saccadic eye movements reflect cognitive processes. But it is only recently that three separate advances have greatly expanded our understanding of the intricate role of eye movements in cognitive function. The first is the demonstration of the pervasive role of the task in guiding where and when to fixate. The second has been the recognition of the role of internal reward in guiding eye and body movements, revealed especially in neurophysiological studies. The third important advance has been the theoretical developments in the fields of reinforcement learning and graphic simulation. All of these advances are proving crucial for understanding how behavioral programs control the selection of visual information.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Mary Hayhoe, Dana Ballard. 2005. Eye movements in natural behavior.. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2005.02.009

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

The inversion In(2L)t impacts complex, environmentally sensitive behaviors in Drosophila melanogaster.

Genetic variation in behavioral traits allows organisms to respond and adapt to environmental challenges. Genetic variation in behavior is often affected by many genes and thus has a complex genetic basis. Inversions, the reorientation of genes along the chromosome, tightly link genetic variants together because they suppress recombination. Therefore, inversions are believed to have a major impact on phenotypic variation because they combine the effects of multiple genes, which can pleiotropically alter multiple aspects of behavior. This study investigates how the inversion In(2L)t, found in Drosophila melanogaster populations around the world, impacts different aspects of behavior in an environment-sensitive manner. We test the activity, foraging, and startle-induced behavior of flies with different In(2L)t genotypes across sex and temperatures. We observe that Drosophila homozygous for In(2L)t sleep less frequently, spend more time away from a food source, and have a longer duration of startle response. Additionally, the impacts of In(2L)t on aspects of behavior can be sex-specific and are largely consistent across temperatures. Taken together, our research demonstrates that inversions can regulate aspects of behavior, and suggests hypotheses explaining the distribution of In(2L)t across space and time.

Behavior↗

Gene-environment interdependence.

Behavioural genetics was initially concerned with partitioning population variance into that due to genetics and that due to environmental influences. The implication was that the two were separate and it was assumed that gene-environment interactions were usually of so little importance that they could safely be ignored. Theoretical considerations suggested that that was unlikely to be true and empirical findings are now accumulating on the demonstrated and replicated biological interactions between identified common single genetic variants and the operation of environmentally mediated risks. The paper outlines the evidence and considers why it is changing concepts in ways that matter.

Behavior↗

Endless minds most beautiful.

The marriage of evolution and development to produce the new discipline 'evo-devo' in biology is situated in the general history of evolutionary biology, and its significance for developmental cognitive science is discussed. The discovery and description of the highly conserved, robust and 'evolvable' mechanisms that organize the vertebrate body plan and fundamental physiology have direct implications for what we should investigate in the evolution of behavior and cognition.

Behavior↗