Foveal and peripheral influences on the control of gaze and attention during scene perception: Experiments and mathematical modeling

高分辨率视觉仅限于我们视觉系统的中心凹，因为外围的视觉信息因敏锐度有限而变得模糊。中心凹对中高空间频率特别敏感，而外围则针对低空间频率进行了优化。因此，中心凹信息被用于对注视刺激的识别和详细分析，而周边信息对于空间定向和即将到来的扫视目标的选择是重要的。该项目的科学目标是基于一个过程模型来表征中心凹和外周信息处理对自然场景中眼睛运动和注意力的时间控制的影响。在第一个资助阶段，我们在中央和外围视野中进行了9个实验，使用凝视相关的高通和低通滤波。此外，我们还开发了一个控制注视持续时间的数学模型。在该模型中，中心假设是中心凹和外周加工对注视持续时间的控制存在相反的动态影响。模型参数可以根据凝视条件滤波的实验数据进行识别。第二个资助阶段的主要研究目标如下：(1)研究中心凹和外周对不同任务变化的眼动时间控制的影响；(2)对空间频率和颜色范围的经验描述，随着时间的推移，优先在不同的视野区域使用；(3)建立场景观看过程中眼跳产生的数学模型，该模型结合了注视持续时间和空间控制。(4)最后，我们计划使用自然场景的视线相关空间频率滤波来创建带注释的眼动数据参考语料库。该语料库将用于验证视觉注意和眼动控制模型。

High-resolution vision is limited to the fovea of our visual system, since visual information in the periphery is blurred because of limited acuity. The fovea is particularly sensitive for medium and high spatial frequencies, while the periphery is optimized for low spatial frequencies. Therefore, foveal information is used for the identification and detailed analysis of fixated stimuli and peripheral information is important for spatial orienting and selection of the upcoming saccade target. The scientific goal of the project is the characterization of the influence of foveal and peripheral information processing on the temporal control of eye movements and attention in natural scenes based on a process model. During the first funding phase, we carried out 9 experiments using gaze-contingent high- and low-pass filtering in the central and peripheral visual field. Furthermore, we developed a mathematical model for the control of fixation durations. In the model, the central assumption was that there are opposing dynamical influences of foveal and peripheral processing on the control of fixation duration. Model parameters could be identified based on experimental data from gaze-contingent filtering. The main research goals for the second funding phase are as follows: (1) Investigation of foveal and peripheral influences on the temporal control of eye movements across task variations, (2) empirical description of the range of spatial frequencies and color, with preferential use in different regions of the visual field over time, (3) development of a mathematical model of saccade generation during scene viewing, which integrates fixation durations and spatial control. (4) Finally, we plan to create an annotated reference corpus of eye-movement data using gaze-contingent spatial frequency filtering of natural scenes. This corpus will be provided for the validation of models of visual attention and eye-movement control.